Our first day with about three dozen Northern MANT (Masters in New Testament) students meant experiencing the modern bustling city of Istanbul. Our tour of this historic city (Constantinople, Byzantium, Istanbul) shapes our understanding of Istanbul’s place in centuries of history — its Christian years, its Muslim years.
The city has one of the finest museums in the world, and it has gone through a recent arrangement of it displays, which have been reduced and exhibited in a way that will draw rave reviews from throughout the world. We particularly enjoyed the exhibitions of sarcophagi (tombs, or “flesh eaters”), of the Artemision of Ephesus, of the jewelry of Ephesus, and of some finds from Sardis.
Here is an outdoor display outside the museum.
In some ways Hagia Sophia, the famous (former) church of this historic city, tells the whole story: built and destroyed by an earthquake; built and burnt down; rebuilt into the massive domed edifice it now is.
That church became a mosque under the Ottoman Empire and then was turned into a museum in the 20th Century but recently turned back into a mosque.
What we saw in our latest tour was so much different than what we saw in our last trip here. The traces of its Christian connections were either inaccessible, like the mosaics on the upper floor, or covered up. We all had to remove our shoes and gain access only during non-prayer times of the mosque.
Women had to wear scarves etc.. Here are two pictures of our attire:
Such a fascinating city with mixes of East and West, and at the crossroads of so much history. Wearing headscarves is something I’m quite familiar with. Thanks for sharing your photos and about all you are seeing.
Seems like this is the appropriate soundtrack to your time in Istanbul. https://youtu.be/6alVaijX1lI?t=180