live from new orleans: Istanbul: The mosques... and maybe a little history.

Big beautiful mosques are to Istanbul like big beautiful Catholic churches are to Rome. There are just tons of them. The city skyline is littered with them. I'm only posting a few pictures and highlighting two of the main mosques, though. And actually, the second isn't really a mosque. More on that later.

As I mentioned in my packing post, head scarves are required when visiting mosques. I've decided I'd prefer to wear one all the time now. Bad hair days would forever be gone.

This is Sultanahmet Mosque- AKA the Blue Mosque for most tourists. It gets the nickname from the tile color on the interior.

The mosque is open all day for worship, but also closes to tourists for a bit during the several daily prayers.

Do you think I could do this on our bedroom ceiling?

The Hagia Sophia. Built in 532 AD.

Of all the sites we explored, the Hagia Sophia had the biggest impact on me. The age and history of this place just blew me away. Built in the 500s, it's been altered a number of times by the proceeding empires that existed in the region. Originally built as an Orthodox cathedral, it was thereafter utilized as a Catholic church, then as a mosque. As the religious affiliation changed, remnants of previous religions were covered up and/or altered accordingly.

Today, the Hagia Sophia serves as only a museum, allowing all religious features to be shown. The architecture itself is amazing, but sights like the one below are another reason this structure is so unique. This shows medallions displaying "Allah" and "Muhammad" on the left and right, with a mosaic image of the Virgin Mary and Jesus in the center. There are few places to see such a convergence of religions.

Images like the one below were covered with plaster for a time, which was removed when the building was converted from a mosque to a museum. This particular mosaic is my favorite. Forgive the mini history lesson you're about to receive- I promise it's interesting!

Obviously Jesus is in the center, but the individuals to his left and right are Empress Zoe and Emperor Constantine IX. It's difficult to see in this picture, but above Constantine's head you can see the writing has been buffed out and rewritten in a couple of spots. The story is pretty interesting and can be read in further detail in guidebooks like Rick Steves' (although I haven't found much solid information on the internet), but basically Empress Zoe was the daughter of an emperor with no male heirs. Anyone thinking about Downton Abbey right now? Anyway, her original husband (Romanus Argyrus) is displayed here. After he died and Zoe remarried (twice), the name above his head was altered accordingly. Because of the difficulty it required to change the mosaic, they didn't bother to alter the guy's face.

Now Zoe's face, on the other hand, has been blotted out and restored. At one point in the excitement I discussed above, Zoe's second husband's nephew (whew) became co-emperor after his uncle's death, and sent Zoe into exile. Apparently Zoe was pretty hard core, because she made her way back eventually, resuming the role of empress, at which point her face was restored. I just feel sorry for the artists that had to keep altering this thing.

The green circle I'm standing on was the site for the empress's throne. She would sit here during services. Pretty good view she had.

This is just a small portion of the horizon, but you can spot a couple of mosques here. How different from our NYC skyline, right? Both beautiful in their own ways.