Hagia Sophia angel uncovered in Turkey

haber27.com ^ | 08/20/08

[Nikas777]

Hagia Sophia angel uncovered in Turkey

Restoration workers have uncovered the mosaic face of an angel in the world-renowned Hagia Sophia Museum in the Turkish city of Istanbul

29 Temmuz 2009 Çarşamba 02:35

The mosaic, believed to be one of a group of six, was found in the pendentive, an arched triangular section supporting the dome of the monument.

Some experts believe the six-winged figure dates back to the 14th century, but the Hagia Sofia Science Board is set to determine the relic's true age by comparing it to similar mosaics found in 1935.

Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia was originally a basilica before it was converted into a mosque after Ottoman Turks conquered the city in 1453.

The mosaics were covered with plaster during the conversion process until 1934, when the Hagia Sophia mosque was turned into a museum, TurkishNY reported.

[Nikas777]

FYI

[taxcontrol]

Hey, I’ve been there!

[Red Steel]

Hey, I’ve been there!

Obama too!

Hagia Sophia, the first and only church, a converted mosque, that Obama has visited since being in office.

[Claud]

ho angelos PING!

[leilani]

Hagia Sophia, the first and only church, a converted mosque, that Obama has visited since being in office.

Is that right? Wow, that's a very telling bit of trivia for all to contemplate, isn't it?

______________________________

I've been there too - Hagia Sophia is one of the masterpieces in the history of architecture, not just for it's beauty as an exemplar of the apex of Byzantine design, but for its use of the very pendentives (inverted triangular structural elements which transition between the support columns & a dome) where the plastered-over Seraphim mosaics are finally being exposed again.

There's a little more info on the mosaics here at HagiaSophia.com:

The 4 seraphims' faces were covered with 6-7 layers of plaster for almost 160 years during the sovereignty of Ottomans. The last person who saw the faces of the Seraphims was the Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati while he was holding the restoration at Hagia Sophia in 1840s. With a 10 day hard work, experts managed to take off the 7 layers of plasters and reveal the face of one of the seraphims....The [precise] age of the mosaics is unclear however they are known to be older than 700 years.

[kalee]

ping

[Red Steel]

Obama visiting the "Blue Mosque"

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=39645

[leilani]

I’ve been in the Blue Mosque, too. That chandelier is awesome.

[RobbyS]

So have I. It is right next to Hagia Sophia. It is instructive that the Turkish government did not return it to the Christian Community even after Attturk “secularized” the state, but made it a museum. The small Christian community still has a hard time in Turkey.

[leilani]

Yes very difficult for Christians there, tho' I s'pose miles better than in any other predominately Muslim country, no? You'd think Ankara would want to cultivate good relations to promote foreign Christian tourism to early christian sites like Ephesus, Nicea et al for the additional revenue, if nothing else.

Ayayaye, this thread is making me crave Loukum terribly (that Turkish Delight candy or, as my waiter in Istanbul called it, Toor-keesh Vee-AHHH-grah.)

;-)

[SunkenCiv]

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[Cincinna]

So much to be discovered.. a wonder a day at least. Thanks,Civ, for bringing them to our attention.

[Nikas777]

Yes very difficult for Christians there, tho' I s'pose miles better than in any other predominately Muslim country, no?

No. Egypt still has her native Copt Christian population. Iraq before the invasion had Christians very high up in society because Sada'am was a Ba'athists and they declare Arabic unity over religion - after the invasion to get rid of Saddam the Christians ran to Syria where they also live free from religious persecution.

The irony is that Turkey as a western oriented self proclaimed secular state is where Christians are hammered at the most compared to places that are the West's enemy like Syria.

[leilani]

Nikas, do you know if the Turkish government is still pursuing the ambition to become part of the EU & if so, wouldn’t their officially encouraged &/or tolerated persecution of Christians constitute an impediment to that goal?

(Not that the EU bureaucracy is particularly inclined to defend the interests of Christians even on the european continent, I realize, but I should think that at a minimum it would constitute an embarrassment for them to admit into its membership a nation which is still overtly violating a minority constituency of their own citizenry’s human rights.)

[Nikas777]

The Turks want to be in the EU or so they claim and they make some gesture towards conciliation to the Christians but in reality where there were millions of Christians in Turkey - a religion that is native to the region - now only numbers a few thousand people.

The ethnic genocide/ethnic cleansing / religious jihad against the Christians in their native land of Anatolia (where Christianity was first called that name) is complete.

All that is left are ruins which fat, happy and willfully ignorant Western tourists can visit and gawk over before going to the beach.

[Cronos]

Don’t forget Syria which is 20% Christian and Lebanon which is over 40% Christian.

[leilani]

Thanks guys. Speaking for myself, Turkey is indeed deceiving to the eye of fat, happy & ignorant Western tourists.[although maybe we're all not so fat! ;-)]

Turkish people may look cosmopolitan & modern and seem more westernized & tolerant on the surface (particularly in Istanbul) and their government officials may adapt the mask of secular democrats, but clearly none of them are any such things.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) my pleasure.

[wolfcreek]

Knew I'd seen her face before.