Sunday, August 19, 2007

Aya Sofia

These pictures are from the Haghia Sophia, which was originally built as a church but later (after the Byzantine Empire was defeated) became a mosque. It was burned down twice, during riots and such, during the Byzantine. At some point, then, it was restored and the mosaics were uncovered. Most of them are Jesus with emperors and empresses. The whole place is very huge. On the wall above the balcony are hung large religious writings, which you can see in the third picture.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

Anna, thanks for the historical information, but your Mom and I would like to hear more about your general impressions of Turkey. The simple stuff, what are you eating, what are the people like, are you going out at night, the weather, you know, the ordinary things. Also, your mother, (not me), wants to know if your hair is still the same color? So a picture of you enjoying the sites would be nice.

paul said...

I like the historical info. especially the pics of hagia sophia. i can only imagine how cool it looks standing at the base of the dome.