Istanbul Diary - Of polite crows and impertinent gulls

Surprise, surprise, the crows in Istanbul, were really polite and well-behaved birds.  They let out a quiet caw here and there, stayed in the trees, and seemed all in all rather unobtrusive, unlike their Indian counterparts who are so in-your-face.

Istanbulli crows are actually the Hooded Crow or Corvus cornix, and the Indian one is Corvus splendens.  They look quite different too, dont they?

So, instead of pesky crows they have belligerent gulls, which I thought were Cape Gulls.  But then I referred them to Charlie from 10000birds.com and he opined that they are Yellow-legged gulls.  His detailed comment are posted in "comments" below.  They were everywhere.  Outside the breakfast room windows, wheeling over the old town, along the waterfront and atop the mosques.  Their cry was loud and raucous, and rather demanding, and I think they had gotten quite used to being fed by fishermen and the small eateries.

I think the one above is an immature - not full grown - and has a different colouration, from the adult, seen below.

The parks were filled with pigeons and common starlings, both of which were fed with stale bread - of which there is a lot I can tell you, the city lives on bread - by the locals and children.

 

I liked these starlings, related to the mynahs, very pretty birds, and they were all rather busy as you can see, hopping around in the parks and picking up their pieces of bread or worms or whatever.  

The pigeons were as daft as our local ones.  We had an amusing time one morning, sitting in the park and looking at a mixed flock of pigeons, starlings and sparrows, as the locals threw bread. The pigeons looked around with this duh look on their faces, and the starlings and sparrows were away with the booty before they even moved!  It was like watching a basketball match (oh sorry, game), between Michael Jordan's Space Jam Team and the alien Monstars!

The Bosphorus had large flocks of these birds skimming over its waters, and I never did figure out what they were.  Charlie identifies them as Yelkouan Shearwaters, a near threatened species now.

..... And then there was this lovely mosaic.  What is it - an egret?

More on these mosaics, in the next instalment!

Istanbul Diary - Day 3: The Aya Sofia - more layers than Shrek!

What else can you say about a building that has been built, re-built, destroyed, re-built again, vandalised, usurped, modified, strengthened and restored?

That's more facelifts than Michael Jackson and more layers than Shrek definitely.  (I still remember with amusement Donkey, mocking Shrek's onion-like layers)

I was not the most keen of history students by any stretch of imagination - I still have not come across a child who likes history - and I have to confess that before our Istanbul trip, I had just a vague and foggy notion about Hagia Sophia.  Isn't it some church built in Constantinople, was the extent of my history and art awareness.  And if I had not visited, that was where it would've probably stayed.  Travel does open my eyes, definitely.

So, here's Aya Sofia for dummies:

• Also known as Hagia Sophia - Sophia meaning Holy Wisdom
• Originally built in the 4th century as a wooden structure by Constantius.  Burnt down in 404 AD
• Rebuilt  in 415.  Burnt again in 532, in the aftermath of the Nika Revolt.
• Justinian puts down the revolt and immediately orders rebuilding of this church.  Hires Messrs Anthemius & Isidorus.  The former an architect and the latter a mathematician.
• Five years, and it is ready.  The Roman/Byzantine empire has seen nothing like it.
• A huge dome on a square base was being tried for the first time.  Dome on cylinder had been done, but not dome on square.  Thus, is the pendentive system born, with a series of arches to support the dome.
• But the dome was too heavy, and the outward thrust on the supporting walls too much, so it had to be buttressed and supported.  I think maintaining it proved quite the white elephant for the Romans/Byzantines.
• More restorations in the 10th century
• Vandalisation by the iconoclasts (7th/8th century) and the Fourth Crusaders, 1204 (imagine that!). 
• 1453 - Ottomans conquer Constantinople.  Hagia Sophia becomes a mosque.  Islamic elements added, Christain mosaics whitewashed.  But Sinan, the architect was instrumental in restoring the crumbling building.
• 1935 - Ataturk converts it into a museum.  Restoration started by the Fosetti brothers, continues on.

And here I was in 2008, rather sceptical of what all the hoo-ha about the building was.  Well look at it.  Doesn't it look like some overgrown, rustic village barn from outside?  
Stones from the original 4th century church

But when I entered, I involuntarily gasped. The space and the light and the sophistication of the finish has to be experienced.

Even my hard-to-surprise twelve-year old son was a bit awestruck (albeit temporarily) by it all.

The aisle around the central nave with mosaiced ceilings, from the time of JustinianThe central nave was filled with tourists all looking around in wonderment and there was a buzz in the air, but it still had this feeling of space and immensity to it.  These lovely marbled pillars (look at the intricate carvings of the capital) surrounded the hall, in the lower storey, and lined the upper gallery as well.

And then you craned your neck upwards to the central dome, which is now painted over with Islamic designs.  There are a row of windows all around the base of the dome, and it filters the light in, removing the heaviness of the dome.

My mind boggled at the level of sophistication in the architectural design of this ancient building.  




Doors of history


The middle door, with an emperor prostrating in front of Jesus, while the Virgin mary and gabriel are enclosed in bubbles. You see, its not our video cameramen who thought of this effect, its been there from antiquity, well almost!



The door on the far right looks like it was taken off some pagan temple and dumped here.

This bronze door dates back to the second century BC

Christian Mosaics

To get a larger view, click on the pictures

All of these seem to have been added in the 9th-10th centuries.  When you look at them with the naked eye, they just look like paintings, but when you see them with a binoculars, since they are up and away on the ceilings, you realise they are mosaics, small 1cm bits of marble arranged to form these giant portraits.

The original 5th and 6th century mosaics were more decorative than figurative it appears.  there were also a pantheon of saints and angels lining the upper walls of the nave, but these were destroyed by the iconoclasts, in the 7th-8th century, and these Jesus ones were added with each emperor.

Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist - wonder why poor Joseph hasn't got a look-see anywhere.  Must read up on this.  John is pleading with Jesus, something to do with Judgement Day, and the bottom half is all damaged

So, here's Jesus with Constantine and wife Zoe. The interesting thing is that the heads have been scratched out and redone. Empress Zoe seems to have had an interesting life. I read somewhere about a previous husband Romanos III

This Mary and Jesus is 9th century and was done after the iconoclasts had come and gone.  (I also learned about the iconoclasts - who decided that the commoners were getting too fond of their miracle-makers and saints, and decided to get rid of all the icons.  Obviously the IPL bosses dont figure in this bunch, since they went about creating icons, all of whom failed miserably.)

My son pointed out the gold dots on the shoulders and forehead, which along with Jesus in the lap makes a cross.  Any significance?

Mary and Jesus are flanked by Constantine offering the city of Constantinople, and Justinian offering Hagia Sophia

The Ottomans make their mark

Buttresses were added to keep the walls from falling out As also these large dramatic leather pendants - 7.5m in dia
The Mihrab replaced the altar
 A mimbar was erected



Calligraphy on the dome, and the Sultan's special seat
 And the minarets, at different points in time.  Supposedly the minarets are of different dimensions because the architect Sinan used them as counterweights, to keep the Aya Sofia from crumbling, and different weights were needed at the different points.

Ingenious, to say the least.

Istanbul Diary - Day 2: SULTANAHMET CAMİ ::

:: SULTANAHMET CAMİ ::

Continued from here

The six minarets of the Sultanahmet mosque are a trademark - I believe it was the only one with so many. And after this was built, the priest were annoyed that it had the same number as the Mecca one, so the Sultan went and put an extra minaret at Mecca, which now has seven minarets.

So, the fourteenth Sultan Ahmet I built this mosque, and relatively speaking for Istanbul, its very new - opened in 1617 - almost modern one would think!

The whole area around the mosque now is Sultanahmet, as is the tram stop. Walk in a little closer, and the view below is in front of you - and we are able to only capture the 4 minarets, with the 3 balconies. The outer 2 have only 2 balconies.

There is a lovely garden all around, and you will find children playing there at all times of the day.
Looks lovely in the evening light as well, which was when we visited it.
And we gasped, because the inside is rather different from the plain and simple outside! I loved the domes and the windows which let in so much light. If you read the expert writing about this mosque, they say that the paint is of poor quality, and the tiles are second-grade, etc etc, (and after seeing the Rustem Pasha mosque, I did see their point), but for a first time visitor, its all quite grand.
And the stained glass windows came from Venice. Actually, the Sultan seems to have rubbed several people the wrong way while building this mosque. The clergy were miffed about the six minarets. The ulema were also annoyed that he used treasury funds for its building (rather than war booty, which seems to have been the general practice at that time.) But what was he to do, he hadn't won any wars, and he was looking for a way to appease the Gods. He had lost Georgia and Azerbaijan to Persia, and Austria had stopped paying their annual tribute, so a sultan has to do something grand isnt it to get his PR ratings up.
More red mosque according to me, than blue mosque, which is what its called.
I quite liked these grand pillars. But the critics refer to them as elephant columns and they are criticised for being too "fat" and taking away from the beauty of the dome. Maybe architect Mehmet Pasha was scared the roof would fall down, otherwise.!

And the carpets, in this and the other mosques we saw, amazing! Plush, thick and soft. Not ragged, worn-out, smelly affairs that one would expect in a well-used public place.

The Aya Sofia seen from the entrance of the mosque, and from which it borrowed and tried to outdo. The mosque is built on the site of the Great Palace of the Byzantines.



If you walk past this side of the mosque and come to the Arasta Bazaar, there is a bit of the Great Palace floor that has been restored, and it is quite something else.
I always wonder why kings, sultans or other people in power have to destroy what a rival does, in order to establish themselves? Wouldn't it have been good if Sultan Ahmet I had built his mosque somewhere else and we also had the Great Palace for posterity?
Anyway, this is the last of the old-style classical mosques to be built in the region.

Istanbul Diary - Day 2 - The Cisterns

Continued from here

Out of Topkapi, refuel at a Divan Yolu eatery, and then we are out on the streets again, deciding to stop by at the Yerabatan Cisterns or the Basilica Cistern.  

This huge underground water tank must have taken some building and planning.  You can still see the watermarks on some of the columns.  There are pipes to take the water out, but they are not used anymore I think.  There were these huge fishes in the water, which is now about say 2 feet deep, and the government has created "atmosphere", with the lighting and background organ music, which kind of echoes through the cave.  All kind of spooky and nice.  

I dont remember, but James Bond was here, reportedly rowing his way between the pillars!

Two Medusa heads have been found at the bottom of two of the pillars, adding to the mystery and spook, one upside down and one on the side.

My theory - Some Roman builder probably had a strange sense of humour, and didn't realise it would lead to so much speculation, excitement and rumour, after a thousand years!

Or maybe he looted it from some temple, and thought this was a good place to hide it?!  

In this book "Pompei" by Robert Harris, one of the bad guys hides his loot in the cisterns at Pompei, I remember!

Istanbul Diary - Day 2 - more Topkapi

Continued from here

I wonder who these were supposed to be - nobility/guards?




Each of the pavillions or halls in the palace now house one collection - costumes, holy stuff, jewels and precious things, porcelain, etc. My favourite was the kitchen. (Surprised?!)

The paatrams were all arranged on display, not unlike what we used in India, and reminded me of my grandfather's home in Coimbatore, where a large joint family would need to be fed, and the kitchens had these huge vessels and ladles.  

Then there were these idly-stand like vessels, which I couldn't figure out, and some large mixing dishes for making pastry!

See the huge chimneys, reminiscent of an industrial-age factory.  As I looked up at them, I imagined the Ottoman kitchen in full swing, with these chimneys letting off smoke, and the clang of dishes, the head cook (I wonder what he was called?) barking out orders, .....  the organisaton probably put our modern day banquet halls to shame.

I looked up from within the kitchen and this is how the chimney looked!

So now, was this a corbeled roof or a real arch? hmmmm...

And the natural light coming in was a lot, because of the arched window spaces.

Coming to think of it, we didn't see a dining hall, I wonder where they ate.  In the harem, we were shown an unimpressive corridor, with a marble slab and were informed that, that was the concubines' dining room.

A huge draw was the Imperial Treasury rooms, filled with unbelievably huge stones.  According to me, most of it was not very aesthetic, or with fine workmanship.  Rather like the American war strategy, they were designed to shock and awe, I think!  It was almost as if there were so many stones, and they all had to be used.  So, okay 20, for this jug then, another 45 on that jar please, and maybe 200 for that chair!  Somebody owned an emerald mine, I'm sure, there were humungous ones.  (We were not allowed to take pictures, so the lack of personal  evidence).  There was an interesting story about one particular huge jewel being found by a layman in a dustbin, and the king of the time (spoilsport!) claimed it for the treasury.  There's Nadir Shah's throne as well - wasn't it looted from India?

The views....

Click on the pictures to enjoy the views in full.  We were lucky to visit the palace on a lovely, clear Mediterranean-like day.  A few days later, the skies turned hazy and cloudy and I''ms ure the views would not have been so picture-perfect.

Golden Horn from the Baghdad pavillion
In the picture is the Galata bridge, with the old city area on the left, and the new business districts on the right.  The right side, across the bridge, was the old Genoese areas.  The Golden Horn is fresh water, and is really the mouth of the rivers flowing into the Sea of Marmara.

The mouth of the Bosphorus straits

You can see the Bosphorus bridge in the background, with the land on the right being the Asian continent, while on the left is Europe.  In the foreground the old Palace walls can be seen

The Sea of Marmara, with the Princes Islands
The Princes Islands, in the background - no motorised transport there, only horse drawn carriages!  We didn't go there, though.

On to the Cisterns!