April 30, 2005
April 30 Phtos: Nkosi
Our guest lecturer for the next few days, Charlie Gates. He is currently teaching at a private university in Turkey. He lead the Dartmouth FSP to Greece in 1989 and, fortunately for us, decided he wanted to do it again.
An Egyptian Obelisk, it is one of three surviving markers placed in the center of the hippodrome (a chariot race track). The hippodrome was approximately 450 m, what little has survived has been turned into a park/tourist trap.
Our official tour guide while in Turkey, Husnu Ovacik. This brings our total number of lecturers to three.
Our first mosque of the day was the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque. Jackie stands as human scale next to one of the many tile wall decoration.
Our next stop was to a museum which was built to hold only one object, a giant mosaic which contained approximately 75 million pieces. Here is a small detail from the mosaic.
A larger detail from the same piece of mosaic.
Neha stands next to an even larger detail of the same mosaic piece. This is only a fragment which of the entire floor which would have been placed in the peristyle of the Grand Palace.
A sign of spring in Istanbul.
A picture from inside Ayia Sophia, which was our next stop. The inside of the building is under construction, but the museum is still open to the public. There are some excellent light effects in the building which are maximized by the golden mosaic backgrounds and bright paint.
A detail of a mosaic from inside the Ayia Sophia. It depicts Jesus with a golden background. The rest of the piece shows the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist on his left and right, respectively.
After a quick bite we visited the Yerebatan Saray, an underground cistern. It was very dramatic with specially lighting effects and a small amount of water on the base. It reminded me of what some temples (which had shallow pools of water) probably looked like from the inside.
One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. The cistern has only 10 inches of water, but serves as a wishing well and a fish pond.
Abby poses next to a turned medusa. There are two of these heads and each is used as a column base. It is unclear why they are placed underground in a cistern. At the time that the cistern was in use, they would not have been seen at all. It is a reuse of stone, but it is unknown what building they were originally used.
The group in front of the Sultanahmet Camii, or Blue Mosque.
The Blue Mosque from the outside. The nickname, the Blue Mosque, was given to this mosque by tourists because of its interior decoration.
Our second to last stop of the day, the museum of Islamic Art and Ethnography. It is a medium sized museum which has a beautiful collection of rugs and calligraphic materials. Here is the group standing out in the courtyard before entering the museum.
A view from the Galata Tower, from here you can get a panoramic view of the city. Here you can see the Bosferous and several mosques.
We will end with a view of the Turkish skyline which is in the opposite direction of the old city where we spent most of out time today and last night.