Let me tell you about the Hagia Sophia! First of all, there has been a church on this site since 325. That first church was built by Constantine (I'm sure his people did the actual work!). That original church was called Megale Ekklesia. It was destroyed in the early 400's and rebuilt and destroyed again in the 500's. The Hagia Sophia was built between 532 and 537. The Emperor was Justinian 1.
Hagia Sophia means Holy Wisdom and this was the main church for Constantinople - which is now Istanbul.
When the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453, the beautiful church was turned into a mosque. Then the building became a museum for a while and was then converted back into a mosque. A lot can happen in 1700 years. Wow!
Per Wikipedia, The church has been described as "holding a unique
position in the Christian world” and as "an architectural and
cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization"
In Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) there is a lot of "East meets West."
Many of the gorgeous Christian paintings had been painted over but there has been restoration work to uncover some amazing art.
It was a truly beautiful place. The architecture has been used as a model in many other houses of worship.
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| look up on the wall - do you see the angel? |
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| This chandalier was amazing. |
What is the biggest or oldest or most beautiful place of worship you have visited?
I spent seven weeks in Norway in 1981 and visited several stave churches. I'm sure those are the oldest churches I've visited. I also visited the Cathedral in Trondheim and that may have also been among the oldest and the largest.
ReplyDeleteOld churches/cathedrals/places of worship are so cool to visit!
DeleteThanks for sharing your photos and information. My husband and I recently were in Morocco and visited the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, which is the 2nd largest operating mosque in Africa. We have also visited St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, which is absolutely enormous! The most meaningful for me personally would have to be the Seattle Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is where my husband and I were married decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI would love to visit Morocco! Did you write about your travels? I've been to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City and it is huge!!
DeleteWhen you get to some of the other parts of the world the dates are positively astounding. Looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI agree!!
DeleteInteresting and so beautiful!! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words!!
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