A very amateur guide to Hagia Sophia (2021-11-06) ​

0:00:01 i thought i'd just give a very brief uh
0:00:03 guided tour of this masjid
0:00:06 hagio sofia in istanbul
0:00:10 this gilded cage is where the sultans
0:00:13 apparently
0:00:14 sat
0:00:15 during sermons and during summer
0:00:17 to protect them from assassination
0:00:21 and here we have the focal point
0:00:24 of the masjid stunningly beautiful
0:00:28 i don't know if you can make out
0:00:29 probably not but there are two um
0:00:31 they look like columns
0:00:33 made of um
0:00:35 marble but they're actually candles from
0:00:38 the fifth century
0:00:40 um from over a thousand years one
0:00:42 thousand five 500 years ago these
0:00:44 candles still exist
0:00:46 and right up there we have um the white
0:00:48 sheets covering over
0:00:50 some mosaics so i have to know behind
0:00:52 that main one there is
0:00:54 uh the virgin mary and jesus
0:00:57 and to the right we have these
0:00:59 incredible symbols
0:01:01 one word there says allah and the other
0:01:03 one
0:01:04 says muhammad
0:01:06 and the other ones
0:01:08 are the names of his senior companions
0:01:11 including uthman and ali
0:01:14 and
0:01:16 and others
0:01:17 dotted around these huge symbols
0:01:20 and these
0:01:21 very low hanging chandeliers
0:01:25 there's a feature of many mosques in
0:01:27 istanbul i've discovered they're vast i
0:01:29 mean you must be about just 20 feet off
0:01:31 the ground
0:01:32 and one of these fell on you you'd be
0:01:34 flattened
0:01:36 absolutely huge and
0:01:38 very beautiful i think they're made of
0:01:41 solid metal what they look like here
0:01:43 imagine that falling on you
0:01:45 Music
0:01:50 and off to the side here
0:01:54 we have islamic information
0:01:57 saw this earlier on and some of it's in
0:02:00 english some of it's in all sorts of
0:02:02 languages really
0:02:06 and
0:02:06 uh not sure what they say
0:02:10 what is islam
0:02:12 and
0:02:14 one here
0:02:15 in english the final messenger
0:02:18 and on the back i noticed it says
0:02:20 global academy for translation and
0:02:22 education
0:02:23 london united kingdom so that's
0:02:26 produced in england
0:02:29 uh what do we have over here
0:02:32 we have some more similar kinds of
0:02:33 things
0:02:36 the abc of
0:02:38 abc's of islam
0:02:41 around the corner here
0:02:43 we have these side
0:02:45 corridors vast corridors
0:02:48 you get more chandeliers
0:02:51 and this room is special this gilded
0:02:53 room look at it what could be behind
0:02:57 these gilded
0:02:59 mesh things here and looking inside you
0:03:01 can just about make out these qurans and
0:03:05 apparently these are very precious
0:03:06 qurans on their thrones
0:03:09 can you here we go
0:03:11 just about see now this used to be the
0:03:13 library untold of one of the sultans
0:03:16 these days it's just got a few qurans in
0:03:18 so this was
0:03:20 a very special place of learning
0:03:22 for the sultans where they kept their
0:03:24 precious texts
0:03:27 okay
0:03:29 and down here
0:03:32 a few people praying there there's a
0:03:34 mimbar just in the corner right over
0:03:35 there
0:03:38 and this is interesting i don't if you
0:03:39 can
0:03:42 work it out so just there is
0:03:45 a tripod
0:03:47 um and this is neptune the pagan
0:03:50 um god
0:03:52 and his um trident whatever the word is
0:03:55 so this was from a time when this was
0:03:58 pagan
0:04:02 as they come around the corner here
0:04:06 vast columns look at this
0:04:12 really slipped then down a step
0:04:15 um and here we have the
0:04:18 this huge uh
0:04:20 stairway
0:04:22 that goes up and this is where
0:04:24 traditionally i guess people you preach
0:04:26 the sermon the imam would preach the
0:04:28 sunday the sunday the friday sermon
0:04:31 and those two flags can't really tell in
0:04:33 the dark but their green green flag
0:04:36 of islam
0:04:39 and um
0:04:40 Music
0:04:41 serious worshipers tend to come here
0:04:43 during the day and night to pray
0:04:45 but um i i've been here on salah and
0:04:48 this whole area has been completely
0:04:49 packed this these these areas here are
0:04:52 for
0:04:53 like study circles where people learn
0:04:55 the crown
0:04:59 and this is very interesting
0:05:01 if you know westminster abbey in london
0:05:03 well you'll know this you'll recognize
0:05:05 this because they copied it and when the
0:05:08 monarchs in england are crowned in
0:05:11 westminster abbey they are crowned on
0:05:13 this
0:05:14 replica uh in westminster abbey this is
0:05:17 the original
0:05:18 and these represent i'm told
0:05:20 um
0:05:21 stones taken from important countries of
0:05:23 the world i remember this one over here
0:05:26 this is stone taken from france because
0:05:28 when i was told about this i was with a
0:05:30 french guy and i said look how small it
0:05:32 is compared to i don't know if that's
0:05:34 persia or arabia or india or whatever
0:05:37 and he said to me ah well where's
0:05:38 england then there's nothing here from
0:05:40 england i don't think
0:05:42 but anyway what's the central one the
0:05:44 big central one
0:05:46 is for the sultan or the emperor of the
0:05:49 ottoman empire himself and he rules here
0:05:52 over all the lesser countries including
0:05:55 france and
0:05:56 india and wherever they are so this is
0:05:58 the coronation
0:05:59 spot where the emperors or the sultans
0:06:03 were crowned and our queen in england
0:06:06 has the same kind of thing in
0:06:08 westminster abbey if you google this you
0:06:10 can
0:06:11 see it for yourself
0:06:12 um
0:06:13 it's open to the public you can see it
0:06:18 so there is a a second tier um
0:06:22 and um
0:06:24 if i remember rightly and i perhaps i
0:06:25 can't remember rightly but i think
0:06:27 possibly the emperor's
0:06:29 wife of the emperor i suppose uh and her
0:06:31 court were up there away from this is
0:06:34 certainly the mail area down here
0:06:37 so that's where the empress was and the
0:06:38 women's section was
0:06:41 uh now women are have their own section
0:06:42 down here rather than upstairs
0:06:46 um
0:06:47 there's something else i want to show
0:06:48 you you see this huge entrance here
0:06:51 this is where the emperor came in
0:06:53 came into the mosque into the in or into
0:06:56 the basilica when it was
0:06:59 um a christian place
0:07:01 but these are the original doors
0:07:04 and they were made over
0:07:06 1500 years ago
0:07:09 just to
0:07:12 they're made i think
0:07:14 of wood so not made of steel and they've
0:07:17 survived
0:07:19 all this time
0:07:20 sorry
0:07:21 without being burned
0:07:26 anyway there's something else i wanted
0:07:27 to show you
0:07:29 before i end
0:07:31 because there's a lot of christian
0:07:33 iconography still in existence here
0:07:36 if i turn around there you go there's
0:07:38 the main entrance to the mosque
0:07:40 and just above it there is an icon of
0:07:43 jesus
0:07:44 and to the left there is an emperor
0:07:47 who is groveling
0:07:49 and begging for forgiveness so he's
0:07:50 repenting of his sin i don't know what
0:07:52 his sin was and above him is an icon or
0:07:55 a picture of the virgin mary and to the
0:07:57 right
0:08:00 and to the right is an angel i think
0:08:04 so that's
0:08:05 christ
0:08:07 up there
0:08:08 it's not been touched it's not been
0:08:10 destroyed it's been
0:08:11 there as part of the mosque for
0:08:15 centuries now
0:08:17 and finally the perhaps the most
0:08:19 extraordinary
0:08:21 um
0:08:24 christian iconography that's left i'm
0:08:26 just kind of going down here in the
0:08:28 eighth century
0:08:29 there was a big controversy in the
0:08:31 church
0:08:32 about the use of icons and the second
0:08:34 council of nicaea ruled in the eighth
0:08:37 century the icons
0:08:38 were okay they were permitted in
0:08:40 christian worship
0:08:42 and to celebrate that i'm told
0:08:46 this was installed
0:08:48 and this is an icon or mosaic of the
0:08:51 virgin mary
0:08:52 and there are two greek words either
0:08:54 side which says martyr mother and theon
0:08:58 of god mother of god with jesus and
0:09:01 there's constantine holding the city of
0:09:05 istanbul
0:09:06 byzantium of course then and giving it
0:09:08 to the virgin mary and there's another
0:09:09 person on the right knack
0:09:12 um so that's still there
0:09:15 stunning mosaic and it's not been
0:09:18 in any way damaged or defaced by
0:09:21 muslims
0:09:23 over the centuries
0:09:25 and christians are still welcome here as
0:09:27 are non-believers of all kinds
0:09:30 um
0:09:31 it's not exclusively for
0:09:33 muslims at all and it's open 24 hours a
0:09:35 day
0:09:36 it never closes thanks to the government
0:09:38 which reopened it
0:09:40 last year after its um
0:09:43 80 year or so
0:09:46 year time as a museum
0:09:49 which charged people to come here
0:09:51 and it was only open certain hours of
0:09:53 the day so now it's back as a mosque a
0:09:55 house of prayer
0:09:57 it's open
0:09:58 to the public
0:09:59 24 hours a day
0:10:01 free of charge
0:10:03 and anyone is welcome here
0:10:05 all you have to do is show respect for
0:10:07 the place so women have to wear a hijab
0:10:09 of course and cover their legs and men
0:10:11 have to cover their legs as well they
0:10:13 can't come in here just wearing shorts
0:10:16 or something they've got to be dressed
0:10:17 decently as well and that's the same as
0:10:19 in the vatican actually if you go to the
0:10:21 vatican they have the same rule not with
0:10:22 a hijab but the rest of it modest
0:10:25 dressing is very important in places of
0:10:27 worship be it church
0:10:28 synagogue or mosque
0:10:32 so there we are that's my unexpert
0:10:37 guide to this place
0:10:39 um i've only known it five minutes
0:10:40 myself but i thought i'd at least
0:10:43 do this now
0:10:44 um why not
0:10:47 little area here i could talk about
0:10:49 these things but
0:10:50 go on all night
0:10:53 um
0:10:54 oh what's this here it says there we go
0:10:57 ladies
0:10:58 section um which is through there
0:11:03 i wonder if there are any ladies through
0:11:05 here i think not
0:11:07 not this time of night
0:11:10 so the ladies section is actually
0:11:14 empty there's no ladies here
0:11:16 everyone's just walking around
0:11:18 as i say it never closes
0:11:20 there are some discreet guards um
0:11:24 somewhere
0:11:25 i think there's one at the moment but
0:11:27 there's there's about four or five of
0:11:28 them on duty
0:11:30 um around the whole complex
0:11:33 and they're very lenient and tolerant
0:11:37 of people
0:11:39 and i spoke to one yesterday
0:11:41 through a translator and the the only
0:11:43 problem they have is with um
0:11:45 demonstrators sometimes people come in
0:11:46 here and they shout and unfold slogans
0:11:50 and banners
0:11:51 that's something they won't tolerate in
0:11:52 here but other than that there's nothing
0:11:55 he said serious happens in here at all
0:11:58 everyone's very well behaved and
0:11:59 respectful
0:12:03 so
0:12:05 there we go what else can i say it's a
0:12:07 marvelous place if you get the chance to
0:12:09 visit do visit
0:12:11 and there are many mosques
0:12:13 in istanbul obviously
0:12:15 but of equal beauty i would argue
0:12:18 equal majesty equal historical
0:12:20 importance
0:12:22 and great places for everyone being
0:12:24 christian muslim
0:12:26 uh whoever to come and uh
0:12:30 experience some spiritual peace in a
0:12:32 sacred space it's a great sacred space
0:12:34 for humankind i would i would suggest um
0:12:38 that's just above the door of the
0:12:40 entrance to the
0:12:42 where the sultan comes in
0:12:44 huge door
0:12:47 so um
0:12:48 tomorrow morning i fly back to london
0:12:53 and so there we are
0:12:57 until next time