Istanbul (June, 2022): still in a class by itself (Part 2: Hagia Sophia + the Sülemaniye)

            The next morning, Sunday, we walked up the hill to join the tour group in the Hippodrome, the site of the huge medieval stadium dedicated to chariot races, the favorite spectator sport of the time. The hillside area below the Sultanahmet Mosque, once home to the Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors, has now developed as a touristic center with modest homes converted into boutique hotels, tourist restaurants and shops, and travel agencies. 

            But traditions continue, like itinerant sellers of simit (bread rings with sesame seeds).

            The hippodrome area has been repaved since I was last here.  It now looks like a generic plaza anywhere, except of course for the extraordinary monuments that still survive from the spina (the central line) of the race track.

            The granite obelisk from Egypt (15th c. BC) and its limestone base, carved with images of the emperor Theodosius I at the hippodrome races (392 AD), are awesome.  

            The Serpent Column from Delphi (479 BC) is being restored.  The upper part of one of the serpent heads is on display in the renovated galleries upstairs in the Archaeology Museum.  Why don’t they move the column indoors, too?  It surely deserves better protection. 

            After our extended visit here, we went over to the Hagia Sophia.  This venerable building, a church for 900 years, a mosque for 500 years, a museum for 85 years (1935-2020), is now serving once again as a mosque.

            No need to buy entrance tickets, since entry to mosques is free.  The security check was desultory.  When we arrived, midday prayers were about to start.  

The şadırvan, a fountain for ritual ablutions before prayers.  

The building was crowded with both worshippers and tourists.  

Guards made sure tourists did not infringe on the worshippers in the front part of the main room. 

            The big difference now is the vast turquoise-colored carpet that covers the floor of the nave, everywhere apart from the cut-out that exposes the square of opus Alexandrinum, circles of granite and other colored stones, perhaps a place where the Byzantine emperor’s throne was placed.  Light fixtures, big circles with lamps, hang low.  But the dome is now completely visible, free from the scaffolding used for conservation in recent decades.

            What about the figural art from Christian times?  The apse mosaic of the Virgin Mary and the child Jesus is partially covered with white drapes. 

Mosaics in other spaces are exposed: the seated Jesus and the prostrate emperor Leo VI in the inner narthex above the main door into the nave, and Constantine and Justinian above the entrance into the inner narthex. 

Leo VI (left) and the seated Jesus 

            The gallery is completely closed to visitors, unfortunately.  From the middle of the nave I looked up and could see that the two major imperial panels (Constantine IX and Zoe; John II Comnenus and Irene) are uncovered. 

            After the prayers were over, we were able to walk around even in the front sections of the nave and side aisles.  It was a surprise, though, to see an older man – an imam? – teaching younger men, all seated on the carpet.  I felt I was in a bygone century.

            It was curious to see this building, which I have visited countless times, in its new incarnation as a mosque.  But that’s how it is now.  With the gallery closed, it will be more difficult for teachers and guides to explain the architecture and the art works.  What I don’t know is what the new arrangements are for conservation.  After all, the Hagia Sophia is almost 1,500 years old.  Attention to its well-being is constantly needed. 

            Our last stop of the day was another mosque, the Sülemaniye, the mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent (1550s), the work of Sinan, the leading Ottoman architect of the time.  This grand, noble building sits serenely amidst beautiful gardens.  Worshippers and visitors come and go, of course, but tourist hype is absent, there are no jostling crowds. 

            But first, before the visit, we needed lunch, even though it was by now 4:00 pm.  Across the street is Erzincanlı Ali Baba, a restaurant famous for its kuru fasulye (white beans in tomato sauce), served with rice pilaf and, perhaps, yogurt or ayran (a slightly salty plain yogurt drink).  

All 30+ of us were promptly and impeccably served by a team of attentive waiters.

            Once inside the mosque, a conservator explained the recent restoration of the decorative paintings in the upper reaches.  

By stripping away layers of paint and by consulting old records, the original designs could be recovered, and then redone.

            Outside, we lingered in the courtyard to admire the tiled panels and the colonnaded space.

            Soon it was time to leave.  Those of us returning by train to Ankara were taken by  minibus to the train station at Söğütlüçeşme ("Fountain with willows"), on the Asian side.  This leg of the trip took only 20 minutes, thanks to light Sunday late afternoon traffic and to the tunnel under the Bosporus – a miracle of engineering, especially for those of us who remember the city long ago, before the first bridge was built across the Bosporus.  Who in 1969, when I first visited Istanbul, would ever have imagined that this would be possible?