Once the grandest church in Christendom, the Church of Divine Wisdom was expropriated by the Turkish conquerors of Constantinople in 1453 and changed it into a mosque. Today it is a museum, somewhat soulless and a shadow of its former self, but spectacular nonetheless. To think that this enormous structure was built in a mere five years - and that in the sixth century!On the newer picture below can be seen the result of a recent restoration of the roof of the apse:
I wonder how muslims would feel about Christians or Jews taking over one of their mosques and turning it into a church or a museum and defacing what was in it all at the same time. Who conquers and who submits?
ReplyDeletelol. i know, right?
ReplyDeletei know this is an old set of comments, but imagine, this was conquered in the 1450's, due to the end of a holy war between the turks and byzantines (who were in several holy wars and also called for the first crusade). it was total conquest; what could the christians do? (and the west, being roman catholic, didn't care and had helped their downfall) it was a diff time then, but i still agree with your point :)
ReplyDeletecome on, it was the middle ages, people. of course the christians were pissed and the muslims would also be pissed, but its just a part of İstanbuls history..
ReplyDeleteıts a museum today, accessible to everybody, not matter what religion they prefer, so why complain?
It is not Just a part of Istanbuls history!! It was a holy orthodox church. open your mind. There is no way, that Christians would turn a mosque into a church, war or no war. also, if they don't agree with our religion, then why copy our church, and build mosques to look like them, in Instanbul. Don't they have there own set of beliefs, so come up with your own original idea of how you want a mosque to be, seems strange to me.
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