Date: Saturday April 30, 2005
Partners for the day: Laura (text) Nkosi (images)
Site(s):Hippodrome, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque, Haghia Sophia, Yerebatan Saray, Blue Mosque, Galata Tower
Museum(s): The Mosaic Museum, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art
Principal Buildings/Monuments: Obelisk of Theodosius, Serpent Column, Column of Constantine, Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque, Haghia Sophia, Yerebatan Saray, Blue Mosque, Galata Tower
Time Spent on Each Site: Hippodrome - from ca. 8:45 AM to ca. 9:45 AM [ __1__ hour], Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque - from ca. 10:00 AM to ca. 10:45 AM [ __.75__ hours], Mosaic Museum - from ca. 11:00 AM to ca. 11:45 AM [ __.75__ hours], Haghia Sophia - from ca. 12:00 PM to ca. 1:15 PM [ __1.25__ hours], Yerebatan Saray - from ca. 2:30 PM to ca. 3:00 PM [ __.5__ hours], Blue Mosque - from ca. 3:00 PM to ca. 3:30 PM [ __.5__ hours], Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art - from ca. 3:30 PM to ca. 4:30 PM [ __1__ hour], Galata Tower - from ca. 5:30 PM to ca. 6:15 PM [ __.75__ hours]
Weather: Grey, cloudy, and cool with heavy rain in the late morning
Our first stop today was the Hippodrome, a stadium built in the late 2nd century AD for chariot races. Nothing remains of the original 480 meter structure – a park defines the outline of where it once was – but we checked out the three important monuments from the Stadium’s spina, or central raised terrace, that still survive: the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, the Column of Constantine, and the bronze Serpent Column, a Greek monument to victory over the Persians that was originally at Delphi. Out next stop was the Sokollu Sehmet Pasha Mosque, one of the smaller mosques in Istanbul. But because of its size, this 16th century building was very peaceful and free of tourists, so we could better appreciate its impressive interior of hand painted tiles. After braving a rainstorm, we were grateful to go into the Mosaic Museum, which houses the remains of 120 meter long, 6th century AD mosaic. We wandered around the mosaic, enjoying the pastoral scenes, but especially liking the violent hunting scenes. With the rain subsided, we went to Haghia Sophia, an absolutely huge building constructed as a Christian church in the 6th century AD, converted to a mosque in 1453, secularized in the 1930s, and now serving as a museum. We walked down the three main aisles, marveling at the beautifully colored stone and the monstrous support piers, before visiting the second floor galleries and their golden mosaics. Next up was Yerebatan Saray, an underground cistern built in 532 AD. Its 336 partially submerged columns lit by eerie orange lights were incredibly interesting, though the two columns whose bases were sculpted Medusa’s heads from an earlier monument were the highlight. The Blue Mosque, a 17th century mosque built to be more beautiful than Haghia Sophia, was our next stop. Almost every inch of it is covered in intricate floral motifs either in tile or paint, and the predominantly blue color of the tile leads to the mosque’s nickname. Across the street from the Blue Mosque is the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. For an hour, we wandered around at our leisure, taking in both the beautiful ceramics, carpets, manuscripts, and other works of art, as well as the ethnographic displays and mockups of what life was and still is like for many Turkish nomads. Our last stop of the day was Galata Tower, built in 1348 as part of the Genoese fortifications. We went to the top of the tower and enjoyed a panoramic view of the city, that included the minarets and domes of many different mosques, as well as a view of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara.
One of the things I found most striking about the many places we visited today were the incredible mosaics. So far, with the exception of a few Roman mosaics here and there, we’ve only seen some early, rather crude Greek mosaics that are predominately only black and white. But the range of color and beauty we saw in today’s mosaics was completely different and an unexpected treat. Our first introduction to these more impressive mosaics was at the Mosaic Museum. The mosaic displayed there was originally part of a peristyle court of the Imperial Palace, which helps to explain its immense size, 120 meters, and the number of tiles used, an incredible 75 million. But what makes this mosaic so beautiful is its shading of color and rendering of figures. There is a full palette of colors utilized, and with so many colors, beautiful shading is created. The limbs of people, for example, all had gray tiles around the edges, creating a realistic rounded appearance. My favorite use of shading, though, was in a depiction of a mask. The mask had big round, ruddy cheeks that were perfectly blended into the peach of the rest of the face, creating a very natural appearance. The way the individual tiles are arranged in the figures is also very striking; depending on the figure, the tiles will be arranged differently to create textures. For example, on one depiction of a goat, the tiles that made up his coat were arranged in thin straight lines, creating the effect of stringy goat’s hair. But there was also a depiction nearby of a beautiful young woman. The tiles in her clothing were arranged in large curves, creating a beautiful, sweeping softness to the drapery of her clothing. The artists were very clever is using both shading and interior line to create beautifully realistic and engaging figures.
Haghia Sophia also features beautiful mosaics of a later date, the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, so we were also able to see mosaics at their finest. All the Haghia Sophia mosaics are done on a background of golden tiles and the figures are accented with gold as well, creating works of art that sparkle. The most impressive mosaic, though, was the Judgment Day Mosaic of the 12th century, where Mary and John the Baptist intercede on humanity’s behalf with the seated Jesus. The amazing thing with this mosaic is that the individual tiles used are absolutely tiny. Because of their size and the precision with which they are fitted, the mosaic is so stunningly flawless that Katherine commented she thought it was a painting at first. The work is just impeccable. Having only seen bulky, choppy black and white Greek mosaics so far, the beauty and skill of Istanbul’s mosaics was an unexpected delight.