Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia

 

Outside of the Topkapi is the Blue Mosque, a mosque built by Sultan Ahmet I who was only 12 when he became the Sultan. In 1609 at the age of 18 he hired an architect to build a mosque greater than the Hagia Sophia. It is a beautiful mosque, and has the unique feature of six minarets - the most of any we saw. The name comes from the blue tile which adorns most of the inside walls.

Our last two days we stayed in a hotel (SultanAhmet Hotel) about one block from the Blue Mosque. Each morning at 5:45 am we were awakened by the mullah singing prayers and calling the faithful to services. This was followed by mullah's at at least three other mosques calling their own faithful. The whole thing took about an hour. I do have to admit that the mullah at the Blue Mosque had a beautiful voice, and he knew it. 

This is the main entrance side of the Blue Mosque. One is permitted to enter the mosque at times when no services are proceeding. We dutifully took off our shoes and walked around inside. The picture on the left does not do the interior justice. There are 283 stained glass widows in the mosque. Four enormous pillars support the main dome. In the area behind the orange rail there is a large floor space covered by prayer carpet. All of the faithful can come 5 times a day and pray toward mecca, altough it would appear that no all turks are quite so faithful.

Here are two pictures of the Hagia Sophia, famous originally as a Christian Church and then as a Mosque. It lies between the Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque.

The original church was built by Constantine in about 360 AD. It suffered damage and was rebuilt in the 400s and then burned again in about 530 AD. The current building dates from about that time. The Hagia Sophia remained a Christian church until the Ottomans conquered Turkey in about 1450. It was then converted to a mosque and was used by the Sultans who lived next door. As you can guess the four minarets were added after that time, the brick one on the right being the oldest.

Currently the Hagia Sophia  is not used at all, and is in serious disrepair. There are some beautiful Christian mosaics on the walls, but most have suffered a lot of damage. The government is working on restoring things, but it looks like insufficient resources to make much progress.

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