Istanbul, day 1

Today whopping whirlwind of whimsical (and sometimes not so whimsical) wonders. Understatement of the century. A brief overview of the day included a visit to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia,the Topkapi Palace, the yerebatan cistern, and the Istanbul Archeological Museum.

So apparently my iPad thinks it's evil to post pictures, so I'll try to figure out a way to add them later. I'm pretty bummed because i have some pretty cool pictures I wanted to show and explain. I even have a picture of the place where the council of Constantinople was held. It pretty much rocked my socks off. I also have a sweet picture of the Bosporus I really wanted to share. Sometimes I really hate technology.

I really enjoyed visiting the blue mosque, even though my sleeves were apparently deemed as scandalous and in had to wear a special scarf. It was all very exciting. Apparently the term "blue mosque" was given to the mosque by the visitors. It was so named because most of the decorations inside are blue. These light bluish tones were very unique for the time, usually the mosques were decorated in darker jewel tones.

I find it really interesting that the Blue Mosque is still a site of worship today. The Hagia Sophia has been turned into a museum, but the Blue Mosque still acts as a mosque. Five times a day the minarets call out reminding faithful Muslims to pray.
The murals we saw of Jesus today in the Hagia Sophia were very interesting. Sometimes Jesus was pictured as a baby in Mary's lap, with a halo of holiness around His head. It was also common to see Jesus holding up one hand with three fingers on it, clearly representing the Trinity.

The architecture in the Hagia Sophia shows that Jesus is holy and transcendent. The images with usually elevated or larger than life, forcing the viewers to look upwards. The Hagia Sophia was not just a place of worship, it was a place to comprehend the transcendence of God over humans. It was a place to view the splendors of the Church and the Empire.