This past weekend we flew to Istanbul on Friday evening. We left Ankara at 5:30 and 38 minutes later landed in Istanbul. Flying is probably cheaper than driving, as you can get one way tickets as low as 19 TL or about 10 dollars to Istanbul if you can fly during the low times. Of course, Friday night and return on Sunday night are not low times and we paid 79 TL each way (plus 35 TL taxes and fees). For about only $125.00 we flew round trip. Not bad. Of course the havas-airport bus-took 1:50 to get us to the old city, which normally takes about 50 minutes, but Friday night rush hour traffic in a city of 16 million slows you down!
Jan from Fairplay, Colorado, and Fran from Seattle, Washington, our tour guides. Picture taken from the top of our hotel.
We went with Jan and Fran, who took us under their wings and showed us around. Tyler, Sam, and Mitch will all be together in Istanbul. Their overlapped time will be March 22-24, as Sam will be leaving and Tyler and Mitch just arriving for their spring breaks. So, this trip was an opportunity for us to get acquainted with the most historic, important, and touristy parts of Istanbul's old city before the boys get here.
Chora Museum from the outside
We saw and experienced way too many items for one blog, so today I'll share with you the Kariye Muzesi, or Chora Museum. It is located quite a ways from the notable Blue Mosque, so we taxied to this area to the west. The full name was Church of the Holy Savior in the Country, or Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Fields. This Byzantine era Christian church was originally built in 413 outside the city walls, or in the chora, "country." The present structure was built in 1077-1081 and the frescoes and mosaics were added between 1315 and 1321. It's a museum now because of it's artwork.
Frescoes painted in the side chapel walls and ceilings. Christ being pulled both ways by God and the devil in the lower fresco.
There are six different domes within the church. Much of the art has deteriorated and only bare walls and ceilings are left, but probably 60% remains. What is there is remarkable. Most of the mosaic tiles for detail on the faces are about the size of your pinky fingernail. The larger tiles are still less than an inch in size.
Jesus's first bath
The holy family.
The Virgin Mary's death
One of the domes. All of the gold tiles are really gold.
This mosaic close up shows the intricate detail. Hopefully you can see the very small tiles detailing the face and beard.
The old marble floors were impressive as well. You can see the main sanctuary area and ceiling have no art work visible any more in the main church. Above the door from the inside is the mosaic of Mary's death.
Of course when the Muslims conquered Constantinople, churches for Christians were often abandoned and mosques built. In the case of the Chora church, the Muslims did not destroy it, but couldn't have their services in a place adorned with Christian symbols, as Islam does not allow iconic images. So, rather than destroy the art, they covered it with either wood, plaster, or "white washed" over the art and used the building as a mosque for over 500 years until 1948. A Byzantine historical organization began restoring the church from that time until 1958, when it was opened as a museum.
There you go. We saw lots, and will see more with the boys, but I really don't think you could see every historic, artistic, or holy place if you were in Istanbul for a month. So, we'll have to back again and again and again...
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