Friday, November 7, 2008

Haghia Sofia A.D. 532- 1453




Haghia Sofia Oct 2008 by Fun Lilliy
If you look at any travel book about Istanbul you will find that the first thing they talk about is AYA SOFIA.. of course its one of the land marks of Istanbul and was always even in history, which this building has seen alot of and still stands strong..it just happened that it was the first thing that I got tickets to see on my first day of touring Istanbul at day two after my arrival ( day one I saw first the bed after a long delayed tiring flight and when I woke up went to Galata Tower for dinner and a show, I will write about that later)
Aya Sofia is a place where you find so much history from every era, and feel once you pass through its doors and on its walls of Old Byzantium, Islamic and Christian thumb prints... you can almost hear the whispers of old times and see images of people in old robes and Emperors passing in front of your eyes.. It was built originally as a church in between A.D. 532 and 537 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian converted to a Mosque in 1453 by Sultan Mehmet II who was only 21 when the Ottoman army conquered Constantinople and taken down Emperor Constantine XI The Last Roman Emperor who dies fighting on the city walls with his army.
To be cont....
Turkish word #8:
Ozur dilerim ozoor dillareem =sorry

7 comments:

The Extravagate said...

I’ve never visited Hagia Sofia but I really love the details they have in the walls,, and reminded me of the bad memories of my history teacher :P

sea life said...

Aha, nice pictures, and
thanks for the lessons:)

Lilliy said...

notorious...if you ever visit Istanbul you should visit Aya Sofia its really amazing even if you dont like history you would just love looking around at all the mosaics on the wall..

sea life.. Bir sey degil.. its more like sharing my own making lessons for me with all.. it motivates me..

Ghareeb said...

Allahu Akbar
Breath taking swear to God

Anonymous said...

Where is the background image on youtube from please?

The Extravagate said...

Nooo don’t get me wrong I love history,, its just this one history teacher was my worst nightmare it was like I’m her target ever since she saw me

BuJ said...

hi Lilly, it's been ages.. hope ur well.
I been to the Aya Sofia a few times.. it's lovely.
By the way, you seem to have an intense interest in it!!