Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City (11 page)

The final Christian liturgy in Haghia Sophia began shortly after sunset on Monday 28 May 1453. The Emperor Constantine XI Dragases arrived in Haghia Sophia an hour or so before midnight, and there made his peace with God before returning to his post on the city walls. The prayers continued in Haghia Sophia throughout the night, and the church filled with crowds of refugees as the sound of the Ottoman artillery grew more intense. Shortly after dawn word came that the defence walls had been breached and that the city had fallen. Then the doors of the church were barred and the congregation huddled inside, praying for a miraculous deliverance which never came. Soon afterwards the vanguard of the Turkish soldiery forced its way into Haghia Sophia, bringing to an end the last tragic hour of Byzantium.

THE CHURCH AS A MOSQUE

Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror entered the city late in the afternoon of that same day, Tuesday 29 May, and rode slowly through the streets of the city to Haghia Sophia. He dismounted at the door of the church and bent down to take a handful of earth, which he then sprinkled over his turban as an act of humility before God. Let us read Evliya Çelebi’s account of this historic occasion: “Sultan Mehmet II, on surveying more closely the church of Aya Sofya, was astonished at the solidity of its construction, the strength of its foundations, the height of its cupola, and the skill of its builder. He caused the ancient building to be cleared of its idolatrous objects and purified from the blood of the slain, and having refreshed the brains of the victorious Moslems by fumigating it with amber and lion-aloes, converted it that very hour into a mosque.”

Immediately after the Conquest, Sultan Mehmet thoroughly repaired the fabric of Haghia Sophia. Later sultans refurbished and adorned the interior of the building in various ways, so as to restore something of its ancient beauty. Evliya Çelebi describes some of these benefactions: “Sultan Murat III brought from the island of Marmara two princely basins of white marble, each of them resembling the cupola of a bath. They stand inside the mosque, full of living water, for all the congregation to perform their ablutions and quench their thirst. The same sultan caused the walls of the mosque to be cleansed and smoothed; he increased the number of lamps and built four raised stone platforms for the readers of the Kuran, and a lofty pulpit on slender columns for the müezzins. Sultan Murat IV, the Conqueror of Baghdad, raised upon four marble columns a marble throne for the preacher.”

All of these objects can still be seen in the nave of Haghia Sophia, along with the gifts of later sultans. The two lustration urns which Evliya mentions are located in the western exedrae. They are late classical or early Byzantine urns to which have been added Turkish lids. An English traveller in the seventeenth century reported that they were always kept full of water “to cool the Mohammedans overheated by their pious gesticulations.” The marble preacher’s throne is located in the middle of the northern arcade. The four marble platforms for the readers of the Kuran are the large one next to the south-east pier and the three smaller ones that are built up against the other piers. The most noteworthy of the later Ottoman additions are the very elegant library built beyond the south aisle by Sultan Mahmut I in 1739, and the imperial loge to the left of the apse, constructed by the Fossatis for Sultan Abdül Mecit in 1847–9.

Of the Fossatis’ decorations the most obtrusive and regrettable are the eight huge green levhas, or medallions, which hang from the piers at gallery level. These were done by the calligrapher Mustafa Izzet Efendi and contain in golden letters the Holy Names; that is, those of Allah, the Prophet Muhammed, and the first Caliphs and Imams. The great inscription in the dome is also by Mustafa Izzet Efendi. This replaces an earlier inscription with the same text, Surah 24:35 from the Kuran.

For a vivid picture of what Haghia Sophia was like as a mosque we turn to the
Seyahatname
, where Evliya Çelebi describes the building as it was in the reign of Sultan Murat IV, in the middle of the seventeenth century. From Evliya’s description we see that Haghia Sophia partook once again of the glories of the age, just as it had 11 centuries before in the reign of Justinian:

And so, for nearly five centuries after the Conquest, Haghia Sophia served the faithful Muslims of the city, just as it had served devout Christians for more than nine centuries before the Fall. These words which Evliya Çelebi wrote of Haghia Sophia would have been a true description of it in either period, as church or mosque: “Aya Sofya is in itself, peculiarly the place of God. It is always full of holy men who pass the day there in fasting and the night in prayer. Seventy lectures well pleasing to God are given there daily, so that to the student it is a mine of knowledge, and it never fails to be frequented by multitudes every day.”

THE PRECINCTS OF HAGH
İ
A SOPH
İ
A

Something of the reverence which was accorded to Haghia Sophia in Ottoman times can be gathered from the fact that five sultans are buried in its precincts. These royal sepulchers are located in the garden just to the south of Haghia Sophia. The oldest of these structures is the türbe of the two mad sultans, Mustafa I and Ibrahim, who ruled briefly in the first half of the seventeenth century. This building, which stands at the south-west corner of Haghia Sophia, just to the right of the entrance, was formerly the Baptistry, and is part of the original structure of Justinian’s church. We learn from Evliya Çelebi that when Mustafa I died in 1623 no place had been prepared for his burial and on the suggestion of Evliya’s father it was decided to turn the Baptistry into a türbe for the dead sultan. Beside Mustafa lies his nephew, Crazy Ibrahim, who ruled from 1640 till 1648. Evliya tells us that Ibrahim’s tomb was much visited by women, “because he was much addicted to them.” But, alas, the women of Stamboul can no longer visit the tomb of Crazy Ibrahim, because the Baptistry is not open to the public.

The other imperial türbes are located in the garden beside the Baptistry; all of these are open to the public. The earliest in date is that of Sultan Selim II, which was completed in 1577. This türbe is important because it is a work of the great Ottoman architect Sinan, and also because both the exterior entrance façade and the whole of the interior are covered with superb Iznik tiles. The building is square, with an outer dome resting directly on the exterior walls; within, a circlet of columns supports an inner dome. The largest of the catafalques which we see there covers the grave of Selim II, who became sultan in 1566, after the death of his father, Süleyman the Magnificent. As Evliya Çelebi wrote of him: “He was an amiable monarch, took much delight in the conversations of poets and learned men, and indulged in wine and gaiety. He was a sweet-natured sovereign but much given to women and wine.” Selim II died in 1574 at the age of 54, after having fallen in his bath while in a drunken stupor. Beside Selim’s catafalque we see that of his favourite wife, Nurbanu. Arrayed around them are the tiny catafalques covering the graves of five of Selim’s sons, three of his daughters, and 32 children of his son and successor, Murat III. Selim’s sons were murdered on the night of 21 December 1574, assassinated according to Ottoman law, to ensure the peaceful accession of Murat, the eldest son.

Murat’s own türbe stands just beside that of his father; it was completed in 1599 by Davut A
ğ
a, the successor to Sinan as Chief of the Imperial Architects. It is hexagonal in plan, also with a double dome, and is adorned with Iznik tiles comparable in quality to those in Selim’s türbe. The türbe contains the remains of Murat III as well as those of his favourite wife, Safiye, four of his lesser concubines, 23 of his sons and 25 of his daughters. The Sultan himself died on 16 January 1595, when he was only in his 49th year. Murat’s türbe was not finished at the time of his death and so his coffin was placed under a tent in the garden of Haghia Sophia. The following morning 19 more coffins were placed there around him, for that night all but one of his surviving sons were executed to ensure the succession of the heir, Mehmet III. This was the last application of what Evliya called the bloody code of the Ottomans; thenceforth the younger brothers of a succeeding sultan were confined in the Saray rather than murdered.

Built up against Murat’s türbe is the little building called the Türbe of the Princes, which contains only the tiny catafalques of five sons of Murat IV. These five princelings died natural deaths, succumbing to one of the many plagues which ravaged the Harem.

The latest in date of the türbes in this necropolis beside Haghia Sophia is that of Mehmet III, son and successor of Murat III. This türbe is octagonal in plan and, like the others, is covered with superb Iznik tiles. Mehmet became sultan in the year 1595 and ruled for only eight years, dying in 1603 at the age of 36. Like his father and his grandfather before him, Mehmet’s world was bounded by the walls of the Harem. Even there he was of no great distinction and sired only 11 children, barely a tenth the homeric output of his father, who is officially credited with 103 offspring. Nine of Mehmet’s children are buried with him, as is his favourite wife, Handan. Mehmet and his family hardly half fill the türbe, leaving room for 16 daughters of Murat III, all of whom died of plague in the same year, 1598.

The other Ottoman structures in the precincts of Haghia Sophia are of minor importance. The building just to the left of the entrance is a primary school built by Sultan Mahmut I in 1740. It is very typical of the little Ottoman one-room schoolhouses of that period, consisting of just a porch and a square chamber covered by a dome. To the right of the entrance there is a little domed structure built by the Fossatis in 1847–9. This was the muvakkithane, the house and workshop of the mosque astronomer, whose sundial can still be seen on the façade of Haghia Sophia to the left of the entrance. In the centre of the courtyard to the left we see the
ş
ad
ı
rvan, or ablution fountain, built by Sultan Mahmut I in about 1740. It is one of the most rococo of all mosque
ş
ad
ı
rvans, but in spite of its extravagance – or perhaps because of it – it is extremely attractive, with its widely projecting roof gaily painted in decorative motifs, its fine bronze grilles, and its marble panels carved in low relief.

Beyond the fountain, a forest of marble columns interspersed with rose bushes and other flowers forms a quaint but attractive garden, which is actually a morgue for stray columns dug up here and there around the city in the course of excavations for roads and buildings. This columnar garden leads along the west front of the building, in what was once the atrium, and brings us to the excavations which in 1935 uncovered the entryway to the Theodosian church, the predecessor of the present edifice. What remains in situ is chiefly the foundation of a monumental entrance-porch. It is essentially in the classical manner – a colonnaded porch with the traditional entablature and coffered ceiling above the columns, although at least above the central columns above the main door the entablature appears to have been arched instead of trabeated (i.e. with a horizontal lintel), as was always the case in pure classical buildings. Vast fragments of this superstructure can be examined close at hand as they lie scattered about here and there in front of the building: it is interesting to see the predominantly Hellenistic decorative motifs giving place from time to time to some distinctively Christian symbol. Through this temple-like porch one entered a great basilical church, probably with five aisles rather than the more usual three. Such a plan, with a wide central nave flanked on either side by two rows of columns forming a double aisle, was occasionally used in early times for the largest churches, as may still be seen, for example, at the Lateran and St. Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome or at St. Demetrius in Thessalonica. A similar plan was probably used for the earlier church built by Constantius. The still remaining fragments of the Theodosian church testify well enough that this too was a building of monumental proportions; it well deserved the name by which it was generally known and which it passed on to its successor;
Megale Ekkiesia
, the Great Church.

One might now sit and rest for awhile in the columnar garden behind Haghia Sophia, perhaps to reflect upon the past of the magnificent edifice one has just visited.