To be in a predominantly Muslim country was a big change for us on this trip. We'd been to Spain, France, Italy and the little Greek Island of Mykonos, all of which have Jesus Christ as the central focus of religion. This was the land of mosques and minarets, prayer calls over loudspeakers and women wearing burkas. Chris, Ruslan and Pop had to wear long pants today so we'd be appropriately attired for entrance into the Blue Mosque. This is one of the most famous and often-visited because of its beautiful tiles on the massive domes inside. It gets it's "Blue" name from the hue it seems to have from it being the often-used color in so many of the tiles. Our guide gave us a pretty thorough general understanding of the religion of Islam and we found it very interesting and different from our culture and church.
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| The Blue Mosque in Istanbul |
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| The blue hue inside is very subtlle..not much in this photo |
Across a large, open courtyard stands the equally-impressive St. Sofia (Church of Holy Wisdom) which was originally a cathedral created by Emperor Constantine in 325 and then converted to a mosque when the city was conquered by the Sultan Mehmet in 1453. The Islamic faith doesn't allow graphic images in a place of worship, so all the beautiful mosaics originally a part of the Hagia Sofia were plastered over. They are just now beginning to remove the coverings to reveal all the original images.
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| Hagia Sofia in the background behind Chris & Ruslan |
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| Original Christian mosaics are being found under plaster |
The persecution of Christians during parts of the history of Istanbul necessitated them having an almost secret society and they had to practice their religion behind closed doors. Chris listens to the guide explaining how emblems in some of the artwork of Hagia Sofia directs Christians who are new to the city to find other believers.
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| Emblems hidden in artwork are clues to Christians |
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