Browsing tag:
Byzantine architecture
Do you know that, apart from the famous Byzantine wonder that everyone knows, there is also the Little Hagia Sophia? Certainly, I didn't. But that's because I had never really explored Istanbul's Byzantine heritage before. It was during my visit in June 2024 that I finally decided to explore and write about this fascinating aspect of the city.
Even though 573 years have passed since Constantinople fell ...
I am not very lucky with the Pammakaristos Monastery. I went to see this former Byzantine chuch in 2019, at the very start of my travels around Turkey in Istanbul. I remember the entire structure being covered in scaffolding. It seemed that they had just started major restoration works and I couldn't see anything at all.
I returned to Istanbul in June 2024. Naturally, the Pammakaristos Monastery was on ...
You may ask what the connection between Christ Pantokrator and Molla Zeyrek is. I am sure that everyone knows who Jesus Christ is, but I suspect that far fewer people have heard of Molla Zeyrek.
The second largest surviving Byzantine religious structure in Istanbul, the Christ Pantokrator Church, is what links these two figures. This historic building is now known as the Molla Zeyrek Mosque.
But let's ...
So, which one was the church for Ottoman sultans in Istanbul? Clearly, Ottoman sultans didn't need a church, they built and prayed in mosques. It is therefore remarkable that Hagia Eirene, located within the first courtyard of Topkapi Palace, never suffered the same fate as almost all other Byzantine churches after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In other words, these former churches were converted into ...
When we talk about the Byzantine heritage in modern-day Istanbul, certainly magnificent Hagia Sophia immediately comes to mind. But there are also former Christian Orthodox churches that you can see in the city, which are all mosques now. However, the Byzantine legacy doesn't end there. The Theodosian Walls protected the city for 1000 years, while the only remaining Byzantine imperial palace is the Tekfur ...
