Hagia Sophia miniature (4″ x 6″) acrylics on postcard stock
The Hagia (Holy) Sophia (Wisdom) is a stunning domed building built as a Greek Orthodox cathedral in 537 when Istanbul, then called Constantinople, was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire(also known as the Byzantine Empire). Between 1204 and 1261 it was a Roman Catholic cathedral. Following the conquering of the Empire by the Ottomans in 1453, the Hagia Sofia became a mosque. In 1931 it was closed and then converted into a museum, which it is still. The minarets and round domes give it an Islamic setting, and some of the interior maintains that influence as well. Nonetheless it is an impressive structure, notably the dome, and for 1000 years it was the largest cathedral in the world, replaced in 1520 by the Cathedral in Seville.
Here are some stock photos of the interior. It is way too dark and large for me to get good photos. These are mosaics!
The Istanbul Modern is another pleasant surprise in a city full of them. The artists on exhibit when I visited yesterday were mostly Turkish, some trained here and others in the US and I think one or two in Germany. Most of the work is representational but very creative in a modernist sort of way, as you can from the photos I’ve placed below.
The installations made sense- how unusual- and were interesting as well- also unusual. One was a young man playing make-shift drums, another various people lip synching Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah.’ Behind thick sets of hanging strands of fabric hangs a geographical globe with stars and planets on the walls, while in another section is a political globe. In a third room a face of a woman is projected onto a mannequin. She is singing.
Not so pleasant is the getting there. There are large signs and even an arrow pointing tot the enntrance. The large signs do not point anywhere except for the one with the arrow, which points down a lonely, shabby alley. I walked past it thinking this could not be. But it was.
The location challenge came after I ran across an angry confrontation a few hundred meters from the entrance. There was angry shouting and a man banging hard on the hood of a van. There was pushing and shoving. The police arrived. I heard four bangs, someone with a notepad came running toward me. I then turned around and scooted back a hundred meters, and crossed the street. A security guard told me it was not gun shots, just more banging on the van I suppose, so I went on. Traffic had piled up between me and the scene so I felt reasonably safe.
Here are some of the pieces I found interesting. The first is fabric sewed onto canvas, probably my favorite, which given I am not a fabric art fan in general, is a strong endorsement:
Istanbul has had its moments of beauty and grandeur. You can relive a bit of it’s heyday in the Hagia Sophia, the Archaeology Musem and the Topkapi Palace.
While we waited to get into one of the rooms at the Palace (we thought it was the main entrance, but we’d already passed it. It was just one of the rooms!) I sketched a section of the lovely old wall.
We took the ferry north on the Bosphorous today. The busy waterway connecting the Mediteranean with the Black Sea is lined with many palaces and houses. The constant breeze you get on shore is amplified as we head into it, keeping the boat cool in the warm sun.
The Grand Bazaar, also called ‘Covered Bazaar’ in Turkish is one of the world’s largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There are 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops. About 90 million enter the halls every year, the world’s most visited place (http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-most-visited-tourist-attractions/2)
Peg and Susan at the Grand Baazar
We came on a slow day, fortunately. The place is overwhelming just in terms of the sheer number of shops. Much of it you could buy anywhere, probably most of it. I have no idea if the deals are good. Just being there again was enough for me.
At the Galata Bridge it’s always lively. So many sights and aromas, thousands of people, ferries, trams, cars, scooters. Western dress, some women wearing scarves with western dress, in tradition attire. No hijabs today. Small groups of teen boys, few of teen girls.
Below, a small boat serves as a kitchen. They make fish sandwhiches and pass them to the land. The bones go in the water (not a good idea, as the decomposition removed the oxygen from the water)
Walking around Istanbul I began to get the impressions that there was not a high degree of religiosity. There are some women in ha-jib, but a small percentage; otherwise it’s just head scarves if not just plain western dress. Despite the dominance of the skyline in some areas by minarets and the very loud andcalls to prayer five times a day from more than one mosque at the same time, I did not observe an influx of people heading to the mosques.
I was surprised, given the success of the AKP, an Islamic party although officially secular as the law prohibits religious parties. Even the AKP is pro-Western and pro-American. However they support the Muslim Brotherhood and have been behind efforts to allow women to wear scarves in the public schools- prohibited since the time of Ataturk.
Gallup’s 2012 survey supports my impression: 23% of Turks are religious, 73% are irreligious and 2% are Atheists (not sure what happened to the other 2%). By ‘irreligious’ I mean that religion is not important to these people but they are not (at least openly) convinced atheists. I think Gallup and others mean by ‘atheist’ that you are certain there are no deities. Atheists do not all assert this, but rather that say that the evidence for deities is absent and that condition is unlikely to ever change.
The 75%/23% is a far greater spread than one might expect given that some 95% of the population is officially Muslim. I learned that they are registered as Muslim at birth, and must be so registered, unless their parents can show they have another religion. This is an intrusion into one’s personal affairs we do not tolerate in the rest of the western world (although there are intrusions, they are of a different sort).
I do not have a sense of where Turkey is headed. The continued success of the AKP is worrisome- they have been in power since the early part of this century.
Topkopi Palace, miniature (4″ x 6″) acrylics on postcard stock
October 1, 2015
Our two weeks in Turkey was filled with surprises. I wasn’t so surprised by the Hagia Sophia, built around 550 on same site as two previous churches- my rendition below (on postcard stock). But I was by how un-religious the people are. There are five calls to prayer per day- and they are loud and difficult to ignore. But there’s hardly a rush to the Mosque. I did a bit of research on the topic (blog entry ‘Religion in Turkey).
Another surprise was the cuisine. It is very complex, sophisticated and exquisite. The pastries! I was stunned. Now the coffee, you can have it. Stick to the tea.
The other pleasant surprise – Istanbul Modern. I’ve posted here some photos. Their modern art collection is excellent, not so far out it makes no sense, but experimental enough to hold your attention.
The other pleasant surprise – Istanbul Modern. I’ve posted some photos in another entry. Their modern art collection is excellent, not so far out it makes no sense, but experimental enough to hold your attention.
On the less surprising but very pleasant side of things, The Bosphorus, the strait that divides Turkey between the “European” side and the “Asian” side, is always busy with ferries and ships, making a lovely backdrop for countless numbers, for the city is built on hills.
The main sites include the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. The former is not all that impressive, other than its size and airy feeling, unless you are a fan of their mosaics. They can be beautiful but they seemed overwhelmed by the size of the place. The Hagia is much more interesting not only for the structure but also the lovely (and sufficiently large) mosaics. You’d be surprised by its age and beauty, but I’d been there before. Here’s my rendition:
Hagia Sophia
Being unrestricted by Islamic rules governing art, they can show the human figure. It’s well worn themes, but some are beautifully executed. I was not so surprised as a bit more appreciative than the last time, not that I fell asleep in here then.
Mosaic from Hagia Sophia
I visited the Archaeological Museum, near the Topkapi Palace (it too, but it was so crowded we left before seeing very much of it, although the view alone is almost worth it). I had no idea that there would be some excellent Roman era sculptures, notably Alexander the Great and Sappho. I felt honored to be able to stand and sketch them in my little notebook.
There is an excellent overview of the history of the city, to the dawn of its history, its establishment as the capitol of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire by Constantine, its sacking by the Crusaders (they thought it was a Muslim city, but it was Christian at that time), and its conquest by the Ottoman Turks. The explanations are in excellent English, here and in fact everywhere we went in Istanbul (a very pleasant surprise). This museum is worth another visit as I did not finish this section and there are two more buildings.
With more time I would try to visit more of the palaces and archaeological sites I learned about at the museum. The palaces you can see along the Bosphorus are both immense and stunningly beautiful (at least from outside).
The old wall is largely gone, but here’s a rendition of it.
Istanbul’s old walls
If you’ve never visited, I suggest you put this city, nay, country (i’ve been elsewhere and it’s fabulous in differing ways) on your list.
We visited the capitol of Estonia, Tallinn, for a week. We’ve become fans of this small city of a small country just 200 kilometers from the Russian border.
At Fat Margaret Square in Tallinn
[wpepsc name=”At Fat Margaret Square in Tallinn pen and ink A3 11.5 x 16.5″” price=”250″ align=”center”]
We flew from Istanbul to Rome. We’ve rented an apartment on Tiburtina. We are a few steps from a Sicilian bakery, several pizza al talgio (sold by weight) places, tavola calda- ‘hot tables’ meaning you order from the glass case and they weigh and bring it to you, a good and expensive way to eat out. There are restaurants, including a highly rated modestly priced one down the street, and there’s Picolo Molisi right next to it. P.M. is a well known fish restaurant we’ve been to several times. I never knew exactly where it was, having gone there by car only via lots of one way streets. It’s hard to find, too, because there is only a very tiny sign on the side street.
We’ve got a bar downstairs. It’s full of coffee clatchers and every other imaginable type of person. There’s a post office, three grocery stores within a five minute walk. Termini, the main train station, is just 10 minutes or so walking. We have two buses and down the street a bit is the tram that takes you to San Giovane and out to Pigneto.
October
Visit to the bar at Doria Pamphili, a drawing of a Cardinal, probably somebody in the Pamphili family.
Cardinal Somebody pen and ink sketch
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