AyaSofya, Istanbul, Turkey

The AyaSofya is the most influential reason for me choosing Turkey. I had first learnt of it through my AP Art History class in high school, and ever since, I had been very interested in seeing it.

 It is the embodiment of Turkish Ottoman history, of Turkish politics and the divide between church and state, of Turkey's beauty--both in nature and in architecture. For these reasons, the AyaSofya appeals to me on a deeper level than just another tourist site. 

Learn about the AyaSofya through the Wikipedia website.

There is a giant courtyard in front of the AyaSofya. It is park-like, with a circular center and fountain and surrounding geometric shapes of grass and cement encircling it. There are benches for people to sit and small corn booth stands, traditionally eaten after being barbequed and heavily salted.

I tried one, and my taste buds were very hesitant on judging whether or not I enjoyed it. I suppose it was a bit too dry for my taste, but I like to eat corn no matter what, so I enjoyed the experience.

Interior of the AyaSofya. It is so grand. Seeing these circular frames with the Arabic on them is actually quite misleading..It is impossible to have a perspective from just photographs. But I got the chance to look at one of these closely from the second floor. It was gigantic.

Detail of the ceiling. Did you know that the AyaSofya was formerly a church before the Ottoman Turks (led by Sultan Mehmet II) conquered Istanbul? Oops, I mean "Constantinople" to be politically correct ;). If you look closely, you will note two angels painted on the ceiling. One of them has a face, the other doesn't. Why do you think that is?

The chandeliers are incredibly large and there are multiple chandeliers for each corner, it seems.

The entrance door. The walls are ornamented with posters describing Ottoman history and the history of the AyaSofya through different historical periods.

The entrance hallway is just the beginning...

The Imam's space.

The front of the mosque. (Some of it was under construction).

I love the juxtaposition of the Allah frame with the Mother Mary.

Vaulted ceilings, traditional in many Eastern mosques.

This is the view from the second floor. It was so amazing to reach the second floor and try to realize the extent of enormity this mosque exhibits. In order to reach the second floor, I actually walked up a slant instead of stairs; I wondered why it was built like that.

After having seen hundreds of slides of mosaics and paintings of Jesus during my Art History days, it was an amazing experience to finally see one in person. I was facing a religious depiction of a man who is embraced by many people around the world. As I noticed the pixellation in the mosaics, I realized and saturated the talent required to create something so meticulous. Surely only those with true love for faith could endure the patience required for such a grand project.

I noticed a man taking some photographs through the window, so I decided to reach for Pandora's box myself. I was delighted to find a gorgeous view of the Blue Mosque in the distance.

In fact, the Blue Mosque and the AyaSofya are literally walking distance from each other. They face each other as old friends with a shared heritage.

Here is the picture I took of the Blue Mosque from the window of the AyaSofya.

View from the second floor.

Obama had visited the AyaSofya just a year ago. During his first 70 days in office, he visited Turkey. It was a remarkable feat for an American president to visit an Islamic country, especially after having been in office for just under the honeymoon period.

Exterior, minaret.

From Wikipedia:

Hagia Sophia (from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, "Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Aya Sofya) is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1934, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.^[1]

The Church was dedicated to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity,^[2] its dedication feast taking place on December 25, the anniversary of the incarnationof the Logos in Christ.^[2] Although it is sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Saint Sophia), sophia is the phonetic spelling in Latinof the Greek word for wisdom - the full name in Greek being Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, "Church of the Holy Wisdom of God".^[3][4]

Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture."^[5] It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the previous two having both been destroyed by rioters. It was designed by Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician.^[6]

The church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 49 foot (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years. It is the church in which Cardinal Humbert in 1054excommunicated Michael I Cerularius - which is commonly considered the start of the Great Schism.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, who subsequently ordered the building converted into a mosque.^[7] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed and many of the mosaics were plastered over. Islamic features — such as the mihrab, minbar, and fourminarets — were added while in the possession of the Ottomans. It remained a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.

For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many other Ottoman mosques, such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque.