I have wanted to visit hagia sophia since I twenty years old. There are still of lot of things I wanted to do when I twenty. O hope I don't get to the end of it before I die. The picture here represent something I didn't know before visiting. The following picture is of the Pilar's. They are one piece of very beautiful of stone. Great care was made to mine craft, and then to protect them while they built the church struck above it. I don't know how many times I have not protected something while working on something above and had to redo it. Of course the Roman and greeks had quite of bit of experience with massive stone working.
This pick is of the massive pillar that partially holds up the weight all the way to the top. I am really impressed with the stone facing of the pilar. I am assuming that it is brick and stone inside.
I have probably seen a picture similar to this one, but what stuck me was the massive second floor galleries. The light fixtures really make their unattainable, for a normal visitor, very intriguing. From the outside the building looks like it would be dark because of its mass, but like they say it is incredibly light inside, or it has the appearance of light.
Although they have services for Muslim prayer through out the day, it appears that many go to pray, or meditate .
The orginal floor. I have seen other churches floor, but the patterns and colors of this visible portón is with amazing. Both at your feet and to the sky was an amazing sight to see.
Although there is no picture, there was a general baias in my education. Christian was taken over by the Turks, who were Muslim. This was viewed by my teachers a bad thing that happened. I accepted that, but felt it was wrong. People change, civilization's change. That is life and what makes history. If a group of people resist change, they are usually the ones who lose. Byzantium changed from being roman, Byzantium changed to be ottoman Turks, who stayed in power through, change and then modern day turkey came to be embracing many changes. Are they still changing tody. Perhaps so.
