Day Three: Many Mosques

Our first full (fresh) day in Istanbul was packed full of visits to important sites. I slept very well, and woke up at 6:30 to get ready. The breakfast here was great, and there was so much food! This is awesome because I could save money on lunch. :-) I will say that there is so much information that it is nearly impossible to fit it all here, even though I’ve tried to keep it short!

We began our day by driving to Topkapı Palace. Topkapı also includes the Hagia Irene on its site. Topkapı Palace was ordered to be constructed by Sultan Mehmed II (the Conqueror) in 1459, which was six years after the conquest of Consantinople (when the Byzantine Empire fell and the Ottoman Empire started). For 400 years it served as the residence of Sultans and also as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire. It is made up of four courtyards and it is massive!

It was the Sultans who lived in this palace. The sultan that we heard most about was Mahmed II. He conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Era at age 21. When he did so, many churches were converted to mosques quickly. He retained control over the patriarchate and rabbinate, though he did not technically kick out all Christians and Jews. The Sultan's reach extended far! For example, it was Mahmed II’s grandson that restored the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Walls of Jerusalem (currently Old City of Jerusalem), renovated the Kaaba in Mecca, and constructed a complex in Damascus.

Topkapı is a museum that holds many relics and artifacts. One of the topics is the clothing of sultans, which I found very interesting. The clothing is huge and ornate, with lots of excess fabric and details in silver and gold. It is extremely well preserved, and must be very heavy. The preservation of the clothing of Sultans (“boçalama”) was very carefully done. However, boçalama was not carried out for females of any stature in the Empire, so very few clothing remains of females within the Palace system.

There is lots of power at play here… Ottoman Empire copied many things from the Romans, like fountains! Think: what is water? Water is life. Your Sultan gives you water! Your Sultan gives you life.

To become a Sultan included power and domination as well. The Sultan would kill their siblings… Mehmed III was the last to do this. He ordered that all of his nineteen brothers be executed. The rest of the family was strangled with a silver cord as a sign of respect (high ranking officials were also executed this way to preserve dignity). Ritual killing was gradually replaced by lifetime solitary confinement in the “Kafes” room (golden cage) in the harem from where the sultan's brothers could never escape, unless they became heir presumptive. Some had already become mentally unstable by the time they were asked to reign. (Yeah, I wonder why! Perhaps generations of trauma of knowing you would kill or be killed depending on who was picked as successor!)

Part of the Topkapı structure is Hagia Irene, the oldest church in the city. it was not converted during the conquest of Constantinople. It was here that the Nicene Creed was voiced here soon after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It is important to note that the lives of non-Christians became particularly bad during this time, during/after Roman emperor Theodosius, who was ruler during Byzantine period and who was devoted to the creation of the Nicene Creed. Later. Justinian’s ascension to the throne in 527 also stamped out deviation from Orthodoxy as defined by the Nicean council… this further worsened conflict against Muslims and Jews.

We recited the Nicene Creed in the place and also had an interesting discussion about the Nicene Creed. The Orthodox omit “and the son” when referring to the Spirit, as they do not want to say that the spirit proceeds from Christ. Lutheran/Orthodox dialogue supports this decision. Take a look in your ELWs for the asterisk noting this in the Nice Creed.

We then walked to the underground Basilica Cistern, wwhich used to hold 2.8 million cubic feet of water but is now a tourist and music site. Columns were repopulated from temples, which were destroyed in the process. As a result, not all columns match!Also, Medusa on a column was a sign of protection. But in the cistern, they put the Medusa head upside down at the bottom of the column to show that it is only an architectural decision and not for protection.

We moved on to the Blue Mosque, which is called that for tourist reasons because of the blue tiles inside (each one costs about $800 and there are thousands!). Its real name is the Sultan Ahmed mosque. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I, and used to be the start of the Hajj. It is built on one of seven hills in Istanbul. It is a real functioning mosque, as are all mosques, it seems, even those that are primarily tourist sites. Here, they pray to the SE (in America, Mecca is East).

Lastly, we visited the huge Hagia Sofia. It is a current mosque, former church and museum, whose structure was built by Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire between 532 and 537. This is the third version of the Hagia Sofia. Upon completion became the world's largest interior space. It was the site of the coronation of Roman emperors. Justinian I said upon completion, “Solomon, I have defeated you.” That’s men and their revenge for you… 

The recent history of Hagia Sofia is complicated. It was converted to a mosque in 1453 after fall of Ottoman Empire, then into a museum in 1935, now in 2020 it is back to being a mosque. It had taken years for workers to uncover the paintings and mosaics from under thick plaster, and now they have covered the angel heads and all Christian iconography that is visible from the prayer floor, because human/animal icons are not allowed in mosques. Now, only men allowed downstairs, if they pray… this cuts off over half of the space to the general public and to women. I could not help but notice how many groups of men were taking pictures that seemed to be tourists. Makes me wonder what the true reason for the mosque conversion might have been.

You can read here about the decision to make Hagia Sofia a mosque again.

This was a very packed day, as it seems all days will be! We had a lovely dinner and then I went right to sleep.

-Liza