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ABOUT ISTANBUL THE BOSPHORUS
Kumkapı Fish Restaurants:
HIGHA SOPHIA UP
Hagia Sophia is the most renowned Byzantine cathedral and the best known
Christian church in Istanbul. The church of the Divine Wisdom, the first
church of Hagia Sophia was planned by Constantıne the Great, but it was
built by his son and heir, Constantius . For almost a thousand years Hagia
Sophia served as the cathedral of Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire.The
name, Hagia Sophia, means sacred wisdom.
The first church, Hagia Sophia, was built between the years 337-361 A.D.
Construction was begun during the reign of Constantius, son and successor
of Constantine The Great. The church was destroyed by a fire on 20 June
in the year A.D. 404.
The second church of Hagia Sophia was rebuilt by Emperor Theodosius. It
was completed in the year A.D. 415. The second church was burnt down during
the Nika revolt in the year A.D. 532.
The third church of Hagia Sophia was rebuilt between the years 532 and
537 by the Emperor Justinian . An earthquake damaged the structure in A.D.
558. It was rebuilt by the young Isidoros.
Hagia Sophia has been restored several times during the Byzantine and Ottoman
period. On the Turkish Conquest of Istanbul. Sultan Mehmet The Conqueror
entered the city on 29 May 1453. The Conqueror lead the first Friday prayers
and ordered it be converted into a mosque. Four minarets of the building
were placed at different times after the Conquest. The southeastern minaret
was added during the reign of Sultan Mehmet II,the northeast minaret by
Beyazit II and the two minarets were added by Murat III. The major restoration
to the building was done during Sultan Abdulmecit's reign in 1847, by a
Swiss architect Gaspar Fossatio. Mehmet the Conquerer added the mihrab
and Suleyman the Magnificent donated the two gigantic candles on each side
of the mihrab. The building was used as a mosque until 1934.
For almost five hundred years after the Turkish Conquest it served as the
imperial mosque of Istanbul. Hagia Sophia served as a mosque during the
early years of the Turkish Republic, then declared a national monument
and converted into a museum by the order of Atatuk on 24 October 1934.
UNDERGROUND CISTERN UP
The structure was known in Byzantium as the basilica Cistern, Justinian
was the founder of the largest underground cistern, built after the Nika
Revolt in 532.The number of the inhabitants of Constantinople increased
and bring a problem of water supply. Basilica Cistern was used to store
water for the Great Palace among the other buildings on the Firth Hill.
During the Justinian time, After the Conquest the water in the Basilica
Cistern were used for the garden of Topkapi Palace. It is 140 meters long
and 70 meters wide. The twelve rows of 28 columns each, 336 altogether,
capacity of having eight thousand cubic miters water. Basilica Cistern
was restored in 1980.
MOSAIC MUSEUM UP
Excavations which began in 1935 by Prof. Baxter. The fragments of the mosaic
pavements which we will see were once part of the Great palace.
The mosaics belonging to the palace are from the fourth and fifth century
A.D. The mosaics are extremely tactile in effect, among them are the figures
of a lion devouring a lizard, a stag entwined with a snake, a woman giving
breast to a child, the combat of a spear bearing hunter and tiger, a child
feeding a donkey, a young girl carrying an amphora, a camel with children
mounted on its back, and a monkey pacing a banana from the tree.
TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ART MUSEUM UP
The Palace of Ibrahim Pasa, the grandest private residence ever built in
the Ottoman Empire was completed in 1524.
Ibrahim was appointed grand Vezir and the following year he married Suleyman's
sister, Hatice.
Unlike many palaces of the period, it was constricted in stone. The palace
was restored 1983.
Considered to be one of the most important examples of Ottoman civil architecture,
it is now a museum of Turkish and Islamic art, exhibiting a collection
of 40.000 objects including fine oriental rugs, Seljuk and Ottoman woodcarvings,
Turkish folk life clothing, rug and kilim looms, showing the weaving and
dying techniques. The museum has a conference room and a Turkish coffee
house serving coffee or tea.
ARCHAELOGICAL MUSEUM UP
The Archrological Museum, the jewel of the city with antiquities collected
from all over the country and stored in one building, was constructed between
the years 1891-1908 by the architect, Valaury. It is one of the most important
arceological museums in the world and it was Turkey's first museum,. Before
its opening all valuble antiquities were brought to Istanbul and exhibited
in the church of Hagia Eirene.
The collection consists of archeological pieces from the period 2500B.C.
to 500A.D. On display are Greek, Roman and Byzantine architecture and sculpture,
earthware, bronz and glassware. coins and medaillions. The most valubable
object of the collection is The Alexander Sarcophagus which originates
from the 4th century B.C.
Alexander Sarcophagus Discovered at Sidon by Hamdi Bey in 1887. The sides
of Sarcophagus are decorated with interesting almost round relief showing
Alexander in a lion hunting. The battle scene with the Macedonians are
sculptured in a sportive fashion.
Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women
Mourners grieved for their loved ones in an interesting fashion.Professional
mourners were hired and these eighteen women can be seen on the sides of
the Sarcophagus .You will notice the figure of a child which gives additional
importance to the deceased.
Alexander's Tomb
This amazing monument is decorated with reliefs on all four side. Greco
Persian wars are represented. Alexander is shown with a lion's pelt over
his head, mounted. On the other side there is a scene of a lion with a
stag in combat and a hunting scene on the other. This sarcophagus is also
in the form of a Greek temple dating from the last quarter of the fourth
century B.C.
Sidmara Sarcophagus
During the Roman period in groups of reliefs showing gods of mythology.
The Lykian Sarcophagus
Lykia was located in soutwest Anatolia. It shows reliefs of two carved
sphinxes and a lion hunt is shown .
The Tabrit Sarcophagus
Tabrit, King of Phoenikia died after the conquest of Egypt. Tabrit's corpse
was mummified and laid into the coffin.
KARIYE(CHORA) MUSEUM UP
The Church of the Holy Savior of Chora, called in Turkish, Kariye Camii,
is, after Hagia Sophia, the most interesting Byzantine church in the city.
Not so much for the building itself, pretty as it is, but because of the
superb series of mosaics and frescoes which it preserves and which have
been magnificently restored and cleaned by the Byzantine Institute of America.
The name of the church,"in Chora" means "in the country" because the very
ancient monastery to which it was attached was outside the walls of the
Constantinian; later when it was included within the Theodosian walls,
the name remained the Holy Savior of Chora.
The church of The Holy Savior in Chora (Kariye Camii) is the most important
monument of the Palaeologan age. Its unique iconographic programme, the
quality and beauty of the mosaics and wall paintings, make it one of the
outstanding masterpieces of Byzantine art.
The origin of the monument cannot be traced with certainty. The earliest
reference is found in the Synaxarion (Legendary) of 4 September by Symeon
Metaphrastes, according to which the relics of St. Babylas who was martyred
in 298, were removed from the Golden Horn to the northwest part of the
City, at a place outside the walls where there is a monastery called Chora.
An anonymous 9th century biographer assigns the foundation of the monastery
to St. Theodore, uncle of the Empress Theodora, whom Justinian had called
to Constantinople to help the Church in the struggle against the sect of
the Theopaschites (536). Theodore settled outside the walls at Chora, where
there was a small church.
With the assistance of the Emperor and Empress, Theodore founded the monastery.
Destroyed by an earthquake in 557, it was rebuilt by Justinian, this time
larger, with a domed church revetted in marble, consecrated to the Holy
Virgin. At the same time were built three parecclesia, dedicated to St.
Anthemius, the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the Archangel Michael, and
also a bath and a hospice, i.e. a wholecomplex of buildings (Gedeon).
Tradition has it that St. Savvas (439-532) travelled from Palestine to
Constantinople and was given hospitality at the monastery in Chora. Thenceforth,
monks from Palestine were always welcome.
Nicephorus Gregoras, who lived at the monastery and wrote its history in
the 14th century, records that it was founded by Justinian. On the other
hand, the historian Procopius remains silent on this point.
Be that as it may, it would appear that the origins of the monastery in
Chora can be traced back to the 3rd century, and this is why the site was
considered sanctified.
The name of Symeon, abbot of the monastery in Chora, appears among the
participants in the 8th Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787), which restored
the veneration of icons.
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