INTERESTING LANDMARKS IN TURKIYE

 INTERESTING LANDMARKS IN TURKIYE

HAGIA SOPHIA 

Hagia Sophia, an important Byzantine structure in Istanbul and one of the world's great monuments. It was built as a Christian church in the 6th century CE (532-537) under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. In subsequent centuries it became a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.

The building reflects the religious changes that have played out in the region over the centuries, with the minarets and inscriptions of Islam as well as the lavish mosaics of Christianity.

The original church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is said to have been ordered to be built by Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan temple. His son, Constantius 11, consecrated it in 360. It was damaged in 404 by a fire that erupted during a riot following the second banishment of St. John Chrysostom, then patriarch of Constantinople.

It was rebuilt and enlarged by the Roman emperor Constans I. The restored building. The historical significance was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius Il. The church was burned again in the Nika insurrection of January 532, a circumstance that gave Justinian I an opportunity to envision a splendid replacement.

ZELVE OPEN AIR MUSEUM

Zelve Open Air Museum in the Cappadocia region is one of the most visually stunning historical sites in Turkey. Originally a Byzantine-era (9th century) monastery, it is reputed to be both one of the earliest settled and last-abandoned monasteries in the entire region. The 'museum' houses the oldest known examples of Cappadocian architecture and religious paintings.

The honeycomb-esque spaces include religious and secular chambers and pointed fairy chimneys and in the 400 years between the 9th and 13th centuries, four churches were built whose remains stand to this day despite nature's best efforts at erosion.

The earliest built was the Direkli Church, famous for its standing columns and iconoclastic-doctrine high relief crosses and there followed the Balikli Church dedicated to fish, the Uzümlü Church (grapes) and the - now collapsed beyond recognition - Geyikli Church (deer). You can still see feint paintings on the remaining stone church walls as well as minaret that has survived the tests of time.

Over the centuries that followed, Christians and Muslims (during the Ottoman rule) lived perfectly happily side by side and after almost a millennium of continuous occupation, the government deemed the town too fragile to live in due to erosion. In 1952 the last inhabitants were relocated 2km away in the town of Aktepe which was affectionately renamed 'Yeni Zelve or New Zelve.

TOPKAPI PALACE MUSEUM

Topkapi Palace Museum, museum in Istanbul that exhibits the imperial collections of the Ottoman Empire and maintains an extensive collection of books and manuscripts in its library.

It is housed in a palace complex that served as the administrative centre and residence of the imperial Ottoman court from about 1478 to 1856.

It opened as a museum in 1924, a year after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. The Topkapi Palace Museum is notable not only for its architecture and collections but also for the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire that it recalls.

About 30 sultans ruled from the Topkapi Palace

for nearly four centuries during the Ottoman Empire's 600-year reign, beginning with Mehmed II. He ordered the construction of the palace in the late 1450s, several years after conquering Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in

1453. Medmed took up residence in 1478, and after his death three years later, successive sultans renovated and expanded the palace frequently, resulting in the palace's medley of changing Islamic, Ottoman, and European architecture styles and decoration. The immense Topkapi Palace housed 1,000-4,000 inhabitants, including up to 300 in the harem.