Hagia Sophia

The first thing I learned is it’s not called “Hag-ee-uh.” Despite the spelling, it’s pronounced “eye-ya” which sounds much nicer. This historical site was once a Christian church and then was turned into a mosque and all the paintings of Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the other people were covered up way back when somebody conquered somebody else. I could look it up for you, but I don’t really care and if you’re related to me, you probably don’t either. If you are interested in more of the history, Wikipedia has tons of it (I'm assuming, I didn't actually check).

Eventually it was restored and turned into a museum and a bazillion people come and visit it to see the unique meshing of Christian and Muslim faiths. Oh, and I guess it’s super famous because it was the largest roofed building for over a thousand years. Nana told Calvin that the dome collapsed 3 different times and each time they learned from their mistakes and rebuilt it. As we walked in, Calvin looked around nervously and asked, “how long ago did it last collapse?” (it's been solid for about 1000 years)

I wouldn't want this huge thing crashing down on me either

Even Camille was impressed by the beautiful architecture and dome

Interesting thing to notice: The fresco of Mary and Jesus is flanked by “Allah” (on the right) and “Mohamed” (on the left)

The place is enormous. Standing on the floor looking up at the dome you feel like an ant. It really is an example of amazing architecture for its time (and for modern time). I have no idea how they constructed it without cranes, lifts, or machinery of any kind.

   
The frescos were all covered up because the Muslim faith doesn’t allow any human or animal forms in their places of worship. That’s why much of their art is Arabic calligraphy. Instead of covering the seraphim (angels) completely, they put gold stars over their faces and left the feathers showing. As part of the restoration they uncovered one of the faces so you can see how they originally looked.

To get to the second floor you climb a switchback tunnel that the emperor used. He would ride in on horseback. Josh is convinced that the people back then must have been mucho short (with tiny horses) to be able to sit upright astride a horse and not hit their heads on the tunnel roof.






People are idiots.
All these amazing historical places have survived for thousands of years and people want to leave their own mark on it. Wonder how long it took R to scratch out “R+ G” in the marble? They probably aren't even together anymore, yet we're stuck looking at R's "art" for the next thousand years . . .

Josh was able to walk around and read all the Arabic art -- crazy, huh?

The view from the second floor balcony. The small flower-looking things are actually the giant chandeliers. See how tiny the people look from up above? 

"Enough of the museum, Mom. Let's go eat." Camille had had enough too.