Are you ready for some armchair traveling?
Well, pack your bags, cuz we’re off to Istanbul to visit:
Hagia Sofia
1500 years old, a UNESCO world heritage site..., and one of the most glorious buildings ever created… and I want to see it!
Textbooks inform us that this is not the original 4th century church erected by Constantine the Great..., or even the second structure, which burned down in 532… Like I’m going to look down my nose at this 537 version for being a Johnny-come-lately!
This venerable building has survived earthquakes, dome collapses, neglect, and bad restoration and still, it looks like this…
I want to go wander around the old basilica, the seat of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, host to church councils and imperial crownings for over 900 years. After Constantinople fell in 1453, Hagia Sofia became the principal mosque of Istanbul for the next 500 years… and I want to experience that gorgeous juxtaposition of cultures...
Byzantine pendentives, Islamic roundels, the Christ Pantokrator, the Sultan’s Lodge… I want to see the mosaic galleries, to discover if it’s true that the Virgin’s blue robe and green cushion are actually made of the same color tiles when seen up close… I want to touch the Viking graffiti on the parapet and imagine the Varangian Guard who may have carved it… I want to meditate in Mahmut’s Library and to gaze on the face of the seraph…
I want to lie on the marble floor and stare at the domed ceiling for hours…
It'll never happen, of course...
But oh, how I like to pretend that it will!
5 comments:
Oh, wow. Gorgeous. Really amazing. Thanks for sharing the dream!
OMG get out of my head!!! I've always wanted to see that in person too, along with The Alhambra, and god, numerous other impossibly beautiful structures. I'm a bit of an amature architect nut. lol
o-
Just think, if it's this gorgeous in tiny pictures, what seeing it in real life would feel like!
T-
"Impossibly beautiful"... I like that.
So when we win the lottery, we know who to ask along on the dream trip, right? ;-)
LOL Yes! I'm down with that.
Start buying tickets!! ;-D
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