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.
A few of these are still available. Please contact me for information.
Ian Carrying Luggage
From our safari to Zambia, June 2014.
These paintings are mostly from my journal, which I did while we were there. Some of the very small ones I later did on larger paper, also in water color.
We traveled by train for 1500 kilometers from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to Zambia, and spent several days in a small village where our nephew works as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was an uplifting experience.
It started with an hour long walk in the dark (see the painting “Heart of Lightness”). As we approached the village we heard shouts of joy, hugs and kisses soon following. Then they sang for an hour, choral harmony in which the whole village joined. We were perfect strangers yet they welcomed us as if we were long lost relatives. We lived in a small hut and watched the people work on the dam, harvest cassava and do other chores. What loads the women can carry on their heads! We ate with them, partied with them. They are sweet and innocent, these people of Lunda land.
I hope you will enjoy my portrayal of the experience, the colors, the scenes, the sense of innocence.
Heart of Lightness We walked on the path towards the village under the glow of the yellow moon. After almost an hour we saw the glow of campfires on the hill. Soon we were welcomed with shrieks and smothered with hugs and kisses on the cheeks.
Heart of Lightness 2- we arrive to an amazing, loving reception complete with chorus! $250
The Chorus After we arrived they sang in harmony for an hour. Children in the front row would sometimes bang the rhythm on the ground. The second row was for the teens, and the adults were in the last.
The Chorus, Zambia SOLD
They sang beautifully.
Women Dance At night the young women danced around a campfire, for which they used a brazier. The wood fire cast an orange glow. My original was just 2″x 4″. The rhythms were mesmerizing. Even some of the older women (by older I mean over 25, as the life span here is just 45) joined in. I wanted to also.
Women Dance in Zambian Village, our Peace Corps visit, A3, 11.5 x 16.5″ (sold)
Women Collect Sand The Peace Corps project is a small dam for filling fish ponds. They need the protein and the income. They do not have much of either. They have goats but they do not eat them, they are for dowries, and they are lactose intolerant so nary a piece of cheese in the country. In this painting they collect sand for the dam.
Woman Collect Sand A4 sold
Walking the Bush We explored the area around the village. Here are friends walk through the bush.
What I experienced gave me a new perspective, different colors, the elongated limbs, the redness of the soil.
We visited the Civico Museo Sartorio this week. It’s on the other side of Trieste but certainly walkable for us. It is another mansion owned by a wealthy family that now holds the family’s collections, furniture with plenty of room for exhibits. The mansion is huge, at least 4 stories and I bet there’s a hundred rooms.
The Sartorio family lived there from 1775 until Anna Segrè Sartorio donated the property to Trieste, requesting that it become a museum. The Allies made it their headquarters after WW2 until around 1953. The city renovated afterwards. Stunning floors and ceilings, endless displays of ceramics, and portraits that went on and on.
The special exhibit displayed the drawings of Giovanni Batista Tiepolo, an amazing artist whose vast out of drawings and paintings make him one of the worlds best albeit less known. . He died in 1770. Here’s one of his drawings. Many of the ones we saw were done in ink. They’ve been restored, having been found in bad condition. The ink was acidic and had to be neutralized, and the backings removed and replaced. This is quite an extensive collection.
