The picture of the little boy in the white costume is cute.. he was visiting the mosque and then was going to be guest of honor at his own circumcision.... occasion for a grand party.

The two men on the porch of the mosque are a study session in Koran... kind of neat, I thought.

Mosques, mosques, mosques, mosquitos......

Over the last couple of days there have been many, many mosques. Our local scholar for this portion is actually a grad student at the University of Chicago, but also a local (Istanbul) boy made good. He knows a great deal about architecture, design, post modernism, nationalism (he does not approve of the latter two, it would appear!!) and mosques.

I will not bore you with descriptions of each one, but will make some general observations. First off, the mosques we are seeing, are magnificent works of architecture and engineering. They are massive, impressive, Impossible, and complex. A mosque in this sense is not just a building or even a place of worship. Instead, it is a community. Most of these mosques had, in addition to the worship area such things as elementary schools, madrasas (places to train religious leaders, hospitals, hospices, soup kitchens for the poor, and much more. Some of them even had medical schools.

The ones we saw today were the mosques of Suleiman the Magnificent, of the early to mid 16th century. He was contemporary with Charles V, Holy Roman Emporer and Henry VIII of England, and Pope Clement VII and Martin Luther and Francis I of France and Barbarossa the Pirate (incidentally, he hired the latter and his brother to run the Ottoman navies). His aim was to become the next Solomon (that's what his name is equivalent to. His self image was to be ruler of the known world; to be known for creating a world ruled by justice, and so on. Among his greatest legacies are the mosques and public areas he had built. In some ways the most famous is the Blue Mosque.. not know that way here..... it's an accidental name. Weather and other depradations had made a blue wash on the tiles and westerners thought it was how it was supposed to be. The name stuck for the west, even if it was debunked! The Blue Mosque is one of the most famous among tourists as well. We went in tonight just after 5 o'clock prayer and there were swarms of tourists, many of them badly behaved. Though women were required to wear head coverings, many did not have them. The mosque officials provided them, but the rule was pretty widely broken by a large group of sunburned blonde tourists who I think may have been from somewhere in Northern Europe. However, the most magnificent part was the windows, so I'm attaching one of those pictures. The Blue Mosque is one of the newer mosques of Suleiman, built by a student of his best architect, Sinan, and our guide tells us there is nothing new in it. Sniffff.

But we did see a couple of gems. The Hasiki Sultan Cami is small but moving. It was built for Suleiman's wife, known at times as Hasiki and sometimes as Roxelana. (which simply means the Russian woman, since she was booty of war who became his wife.. he wrote her soppy love sonnets throughout their life and she exercised much power, even being legitimately married to him.... she didn't have many admirers in certain circles. Her mosque is small, but beautifully desingned. It is also surrounded by kitchen, madrasa, elementary school, and a soup kitchen. A school for young boys to learn Koran is still operational and we got to watch for a few minutes as the little boys recited their lessons. I think the imam was glad when we left. we certainly disrupted the school day. THings are ever the same, however... I'm attaching a picture of a parent-teacher conference.....


My favorite was the Cerzade Mosque (there should be a little tail on the bottom of the C and the pronunciation is Share-zah-dee. This was commissioned by a heartbroken Suleiman on the untimely early death of his favorite son. He commissioned Sinan to design it and see to its construction. Sinan started life in slvery, becme an officer of the janissaries. His military role was to be a military engineer, figuring out defensive structures and such He was 49 when Suleiman put him in charge of this mosque and he had lots of detractors who tried to get him fired. However, Suleiman trusted him with it and he created a beautiful struture. Our expert said he was influenced by the Italian architect Bramonte, ad by some of the sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci as well as some elements of St. Peter's in Rome. It is lovely --- finished in only 4 years (there's that slavery element again) and is exceptional in symmetry and moving in its concept.

Then on to the great Sulimaniye, which many think is Sinan's master work. Simple commission from his boss: Make it better than the ancient temple of Solomon. And maybe he did. It has amazing mathematical elements in the arches; it supports huge domes far above the floor. It is a perfect cube with the dome a perfect hemisphere. Gorgeous mosaic work, ornamentation, use of marble and granite.

On a lighter note, there were the omnipresent kedis... kitties in and around every mosque. They are gentle cats, eager to be patted and talked to. Though we did have to rescue one tiny kitten who got caught in a bit of fence. He wasn't all that grateful, either!

Given that it's been 24 years since we left Turkey, I'd expected changes and I have seen a few. The most striking to me is the large increase in the number of women wearing headscarves. In the late 1920's/early 30's, Ataturk outlawed both the fez for men and the scarf for women in his quest to modernize and westernize Turkey and move it away from Arab and religious influence. When we were here before we certainly saw women wearing the scarf, but it was generally in less urban areas and women of lower socio economic standing. What I observe now is many young and middle class appearing women wearing the scarf, and even in the current summer swelter, long sleeves, and frequently a coat that goes to the ankle. When I asked our guide, she agreed that it is something increasing, and her view is that it is a way that women give visual sign to their virtue and values. I saw a young couple with a small child today. The man was maybe 30, wearing a NY Yankees jersey, the child was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap. The woman was covered head to toe in scarf, a long tan coat with only her flip flops showing.

On the other hand, I have not seen any response to the call to prayer which we hear multiple times a day from loudspeakers on every side.

The unemployment rate is approaching 15% but I haven't yet seen evidence of massive change. There are very few beggars on the street, but massive numbers of street vendors... cold water bottles are a popular vending item and the cost is generally one Turkish Lira, about 65-70 cents in American. It may be significant that many touristy shops and kiosks are setting their prices in Euros rather than either TL or dollars.


There are still lots of places to get food. We loved doner kebab and it is omnipresent, as are cimit (bagel/pretzel like breads) and roasted corn.

Horrendous traffic...but it's a city of 15 million plus.... and old narrow streets. THere is now a modern tram/subway system and buses everywhere. And new taxis. I haven't seen dolmuses, the old mini vans and sedans who were used for shared taxi rides... I am told they still exist in the provincial areas.

One of the areas of the city we toured was Fatih. It is said to be a very conservative and traditional area..... very fundamentalist. It's also the heart of their version of the garment district. The second story show windows of almost every building were used to showcase wedding gowns and formal attire. Some were the height of Italian and French fashion, very stylish, very bare.... and then the next shop would have the most covered up gowns you could imagine for those with more conservative life styles. Fascinating. Pictures didn't come out well give that we were in a moving bus, but it was memorable.

I've tried posting this more than once without luck... if it doesn't work this time, no matter... bed calls!

Pictures of Chora

St. Savior ....Chora

This is not totally Ottoman, but it was rather breathtaking... I think I mentioned that our local guide, Arzu, is earning her PhD in Byzantine art, and she suggested we should see the mosaics at Chora. The small church was built in the third century outside the walls that had been built to enclose Constantinople...though a century later when Theodosius extended the walls, it was included. The mosaics date back to about 1320...... wow. I felt, please forgive me, that I was in a chapel shared by devout Christians with heavy influence by the Catholic and Mormon branches of Christianity. Catholic because of the heavy emphasis on Mary's role. Her whole life story from the anguish of her childless parents, to her assumption into heaven, is portrayed in the mosaics. By the way, much of the story line is derived from the apocryphal books of the Bible, so some of the stories were new to me. The Mormon reference is because there is heavy emphasis on genealogy. One gorgeous set of mosaics in a dome is a complete genealogy of Jesus, back to Adam.

There is also a lot of reference to the nativity of Christ, with a series of mosaics showing Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, their census/taxation, bringing forth the infant in the stable, the arrival of the magi....

During the Ottoman period most of the mosaics were covered with plaster, as in Aya Sofia, and some were damaged, but the remaining ones are breathtaking. There were also cats, one very pregnant one who seemed to feel her place was on the floor directly under the mosaic of the nativity. Very beautiful, all of it.

The Hippodrome

The remnants of the ancient Roman Hippodrome now make a long central plaza near Aya Sofia....at one end there is a Byzantine column that was scavenged for its bronze covering plaques in the Ottoman Empire, so now it is mostly broken brick. At the other end is a fountain donated by Wilhelm II of Germany in the 19th century.... it has the symbol of the Ottomans sharing pride of place with the personal symbol of Wilhelm. In between the two ends are a magnificent column from ancient Egypt and a bronze "serpent" column. The Egyptian column was in Karnak, built around 1500 BC The top third or so was brought to Constantinople in the fifth century AD.. it is huge... and only the top third of the original.

One amusement of the day was that our group was enlisted by a local TV station to dance a Turkish dance on the grounds of the Hippodrome. It was apparently a very slow news day... but much fun was had! There was vigorous rehearsal and then the money performance. There is talk about the group trying out for America's Got Talent, but I'm not super hopeful!

More From Istanbul

Wow... what a city. Today we began with Haggia Sophia or Aya Sofia, depending on how you prefer to spell it. There is a certain political or cultural overtone to it, given that the first primarily honors the Byzantine while the latter touches more on the Ottoman. No matter now... it is a magnificent reminder of the glory that was Constantinople and Istanbul.

Some data first... it is the fourth largest ancient building in the world... the dimensions are staggering. When it was built, the first two versions, made of wood, were burned (4th century, 5th century). The first burning was in response to the exiling of Christians to Anatolia, the second followed the horrendous Nika revolt in 532 AD where 30,000 died in the Roman Hippodrome. Issues were complex, but Justinian made an unpopular call in deciding a chariot race in the Hippodrome, and teh ensuing riots were massive and deadly. It burned again. By the way, those were the last serious horseraces in the Hippodrome -- I'll tell you about that in a bit.

Justinian decided the church must be rebuilt. The Empress Theodora goaded him to do it on the grandest scale possible to dazzle the restless people and intimidate the rest of the world. He did it smart. He hired the best Jewish mathematicians, architects and designers in the world. The simple orders were that the structure must surpass the Temple of Solomon. The designed and built the massive structure in 2 years, spent a third year ornamenting it. That would be fast today. Of course, there were 1000 slaves working round the clock for that time, which may have sped up the process.

The church reopened in 535 AD and that is the present structure. I won't use too many statistics, but the central dome is over 65 meters high; it is more than 35 meters in diameter.... considering it is made of marble, that means inconceivable weight that is supported by the walls... and yet it is open and airy. Perfect engineering. The picture above is the best I could do of the exterior, given that it is so huge.

Over the years, there was conflict between the Catholic Church and what became the Orthodox Church, and everyone worked on calling everyone else pagans. There was conflict over ornamentation and iconography, but there is a bit of everything. When the Ottomans took over in 1453, they added a few odd minarets and other elements of mosques. They used fresh white plaster to paint over the mosaics and paintings of saints, which was the salvation of those artworks which have since been uncovered. After Turkey arose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, Kemal Ataturk was inspired to have the building and its treasures preserved as a museum and much attention was paid to its preservation and restoration. It is truly breathtaking. I will add a few pictures of the interior... one fun part was the small cat in the midst of the crowd, lying just below the Muslim "pulpit", accepting pats from the passersby and quite undismayed by the crowds. There were huge crowds of great diversity...omnipresent Japanese tours, western Europeans, Americans, many more. (I sat a bit in the garden after we toured and talked to people from India and Norway in the space of about 10 minutes.

Above you'll see various views.. the early marble pillars, various interior views. I am including one of the marble panels in the walls. .... you'll note it looks like a mirror image...teh craftsmen devised a golden saw that could thinly "slice" the marble and then put the two panels together to "reflect" each other. Pretty cool. I will include the kedi (cat) as well, and other stuff. More after I get home.. it takes forever to download the pictures!