Comments can be written but are only visible after I have checked them: these pages are not forums for political debate - nor to just let the world know you exist!

Yorum yazabilirsiniz ama yorumlarınızı ben kontrol ettikten sonra sitede görebilirsiniz. Bu sayfalar politik tartışmalar ya da dünyaya hayatta olduğunuzu duyurmak için hazırlanmış forumlar değil!

The Aya Sofia (also Haghia Sophia) is a museum nowadays. It was founded as a church on a place where earlier another church stood. That was inaugurated on 15-2-360 during the reign of Constantius, son of Constantine the Great. That one was set alight and burned. During the Nika-uprising in 532 the Great Church, started under Theodosius II, which was the next church on that place, was also destroyed. Remains of that church can be seen at the West of the current church. That was built in 5 years and inaugurated by Justinian on 27-12-537, with the words “Praise the Lord who found me worthy to finish this project. Salomon, I have surpassed you.” (in Greek, I suppose). After Mehmet the Conqueror took the city in 1453 he had the church transferred into a mosque. The mosaics were covered with whitewash. In 1934 they were uncovered. I start with these mosaics, then gradually show more of the building. I will later add pictures I have elsewhere. During my last visit (December 2004) the central part was not accessible, due to restoration work. You may want to compare the pictures with Little Aya Sofia (no mosaics) or with those of Cappadocia Churches at Göreme Open Air Museum

The Turkish government site for a change is quite good on this subject, with images where you can yourself handle you point of view and what to look at (resolution is OK). Quick Time required. Navigation is intuitive. They give a good feel of what a visit might be like. A couple of presentations of my pictures with music and some visual effects first one, second one have been prepared by some admirer. The links are to YouTube which, I only read later, has been banned for a year because two courts banned it in response to videos that it deemed insulting to Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Under the Turkish law, it is crime to insult Ataturk. I quote this from the site of the Turkish Daily News of november 22 2008, which links to Hürriyet which obviously has not been banned in my country, the Netherlands. I will not comment on this all, because I would probably be banned from the country myself. In the article Erdogan is quoted as still accessing YouTube and telling journalist they could do the same. Linking from the Hürriyet page I found links to the technology needed, claiming "As the number of Internet blockings increase, alternative ways to access banned sites are becoming more popular. Web sites such as vtunnel or ninjacloak allow users to enter blocked sites by hiding their IP address. The irony highlights the legal system's mistreatment to the medium and lack of technical knowledge." Sometimes Turkish political life is too mind-boggling to be understood by people from other countries.

Ayasofya (Haghia Sophia) günümüzde bir müzedir. Öncesinde başka bir kilisenin bulunduğu bir yere inşa edildi. Büyük Konstantin’in oğlu Konstantius döneminde, 15.02.360 tarihinde törenle açıldı. Bu kilise yandı. II. Theodosius döneminde aynı yerde açılan diğer kilise, 532’de Nika isyanı sırasında harap edildi. Bu kiliseden kalanlar şimdiki kilisenin batı bölümünde görülebilir. Son olarak Ayasofya Kilisesi 5 yılda inşa edildi ve Justinian tarafından 27.12.537’de “Beni bu projeyi bitirmeye layık gören Tanrı’ya şükürler olsun. Salamon, seni geçtim!” sözleriyle açıldı (sanırım Yunanca). Fatih Sultan Mehmet 1453’te şehri aldıktan sonra kiliseyi bir camiye dönüştürdü. Mozaikler, badanayla kapatıldı. 1934’te tekrar üzerleri açıldı.
Bu mozaiklerle başlıyorum, yavaş yavaş binanın diğer bölümlerini gösteriyorum. Daha sonra bendeki başka resimleri de ekleyeceğim. Son ziyaretimde (Aralık 2004), restorasyon çalışmasından dolayı ana bölüm açık değildi. Resimleri, Göreme Açık Hava Müzesi'ndeki Kapadokya Kiliseleriyle karşılaştırmak isteyebilirsiniz.

Türkçe çeviri: Melek Emir. Katkılarından dolayı teşekkür ederim.