It's a church. It's a mosque. It's Hagia Sophia. - Kelly Wall — Transcript

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1. 0:06They say that if walls could talk, each building would have a story to tell,
2. 0:10but few would tell so many fascinating stories in so many different voices
3. 0:15as the Hagia Sophia, or holy wisdom.
4. 0:19Perched at the crossroads of continents and cultures,
5. 0:21it has seen massive changes from the name of the city where it stands,
6. 0:25to its own structure and purpose.
7. 0:27And today, the elements from each era stand
8. 0:30ready to tell their tales to any visitor who will listen.
9. 0:34Even before you arrive at the Hagia Sophia, the ancient fortifications
10. 0:38hint at the strategic importance of the surrounding city,
11. 0:41founded as Byzantium by Greek colonists in 657 BCE.
12. 0:46And successfully renamed as Augusta Antonia, New Rome and Constantinople
13. 0:50as it was conquered, reconquered, destroyed and rebuilt
14. 0:54by various Greek, Persian and Roman rulers over the following centuries.
15. 0:59And it was within these walls that the first Megale Ekklesia, or great church,
16. 1:04was built in the fourth century.
17. 1:06Though it was soon burned to the ground in riots,
18. 1:08it established the location for the region's main religious structure
19. 1:11for centuries to come.
20. 1:13Near the entrance, the marble stones with reliefs
21. 1:16are the last reminders of the second church.
22. 1:19Built in 415 CE, it was destroyed during the Nika Riots of 532
23. 1:24when angry crowds at a chariot race
24. 1:26nearly overthrew the emperor, Justinian the First.
25. 1:29Having barely managed to retain power,
26. 1:31he resolved to rebuild the church on a grander scale,
27. 1:35and five years later, the edifice you see before you was completed.
28. 1:39As you step inside, the stones of the foundation and walls
29. 1:42murmur tales from their homelands of Egypt and Syria,
30. 1:46while columns taken from the Temple of Artemis recall a more ancient past.
31. 1:51Runic inscriptions carved by the Vikings of the emperor's elite guard
32. 1:55carry the lore of distant northern lands.
33. 1:57But your attention is caught by the grand dome, representing the heavens.
34. 2:02Reaching over 50 meters high and over 30 meters in diameter
35. 2:06and ringed by windows around its base,
36. 2:09the golden dome appears suspended from heaven,
37. 2:12light reflecting through its interior.
38. 2:15Beneath its grandiose symbolism, the sturdy reinforcing Corinthian columns,
39. 2:19brought from Lebanon after the original dome was partially destroyed
40. 2:22by an earthquake in 558 CE,
41. 2:25quietly remind you of its fragility
42. 2:27and the engineering skills such a marvel requires.
43. 2:31If a picture is worth a thousand words,
44. 2:34the mosaics from the next several centuries have the most to say
45. 2:37not only about their Biblical themes,
46. 2:39but also the Byzantine emperors who commissioned them,
47. 2:42often depicted along with Christ.
48. 2:45But beneath their loud and clear voices,
49. 2:47one hears the haunting echoes of the damaged and missing mosaics and icons,
50. 2:51desecrated and looted during the Latin Occupation in the Fourth Crusade.
51. 2:56Within the floor, the tomb inscription of Enrico Dandolo,
52. 2:59the Venetian ruler who commanded the campaign,
53. 3:02is a stark reminder of those 57 years that Hagia Sophia spent as a Roman Catholic church
54. 3:08before returning to its orthodox roots upon the Byzantine Reconquest.
55. 3:13But it would not remain a church for long.
56. 3:15Weakened by the Crusades, Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453
57. 3:19and would be known as Istanbul thereafter.
58. 3:22After allowing his soldiers three days of pillage,
59. 3:24Sultan Mehmed the Second entered the building.
60. 3:27Though heavily damaged, its grandeur was not lost
61. 3:30on the young sultan who immediately rededicated it to Allah,
62. 3:33proclaiming that it would be the new imperial mosque.
63. 3:37The four minarets built over the next century
64. 3:39are the most obvious sign of this era,
65. 3:41serving as architectural supports in addition to their religious purpose.
66. 3:45But there are many others.
67. 3:47Ornate candle holders relate Suleiman's conquest of Hungary,
68. 3:50while giant caligraphy discs hung from the ceiling
69. 3:53remind visitors for the first four caliphs who followed Muhammad.
70. 3:57Though the building you see today still looks like a mosque, it is now a museum,
71. 4:02a decision made in 1935 by Kemal Ataturk,
72. 4:06the modernizing first president of Turkey
73. 4:08following the Ottoman Empire's collapse.
74. 4:11It was this secularization that allowed for removal
75. 4:15of the carpets hiding the marble floor decorations
76. 4:17and the plaster covering the Christian mosaics.
77. 4:20Ongoing restoration work has allowed the multiplicity of voices
78. 4:24in Hagia Sophia's long history
79. 4:26to be heard again after centuries of silence.
80. 4:29But conflict remains.
81. 4:31Hidden mosaics cry out from beneath Islamic calligraphy,
82. 4:34valuable pieces of history that cannot be uncovered without destroying others.
83. 4:38Meanwhile, calls sound from both Muslim and Christian communities
84. 4:42to return the building to its former religious purposes.
85. 4:45The story of the divine wisdom may be far from over,
86. 4:49but one can only hope that the many voices residing there
87. 4:52will be able to tell their part for years to come.