My trip to Turkey started in Istanbul.
It is necessary to have a simple understanding of Istanbul: as early as 6000-5000 BC, there was human activity here; Byzantium, the first city name here, followed by Constantinople and now Istanbul; Until the establishment of the Turkish Republic in the last century, it was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire; The Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, separates and also connects eurasia; The unique geographical location allows the cultures of the East and the West to blend well here, and Istanbul, recognized by the world as one of the ten most attractive cities in the world.
Blue Mosque
Built in 1616 and its official name is the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, it is one of the most important buildings in Istanbul besides the Hagia Sophia. Regardless of its religious status and architectural value, it is unmatched by other mosques. It has six minarets, unique in the world, only one less than the Holy Mosque of Mecca, known as one of the world's top ten wonders, and one of the world's top ten mosques.
North of the Blue Mosque
East of the Blue Mosque
Part of the exterior of the Blue Mosque (its blue roof can be clearly seen)
When the Blue Mosque was first built, there was another vignette: it was said that the Sultan said that he would build a mosque made of pure gold, but when the architect submitted the design drawings, it became a mosque with six minarets, because the six towers in Turkish are pronounced similar to gold.
Entrance to the Blue Mosque
Inner courtyard
colonnade
It is said that when such a large building was built, it did not use a nail and a rivet, and the Blue Mosque has survived several major earthquakes for more than four hundred years, which cannot but be said to be a miracle in the history of human architecture.
Spacious hall, huge stone pillars and palatial red carpet (above three)
Ornate dome (260 small windows with round arches allow natural light to be cast softly)
Why is it called the Blue Mosque? Not only is the roof blue, but also because the inner walls are all decorated with blue Izni tiles, after completion, they destroy all the remaining tiles, so each tile here is worth a lot.
Beautifully Ezni blue tiles
Originating from the manuscript Quran, Arabic calligraphy has a long history and occupies an important position in the field of Islamic cultural history and world culture and art, and is the spiritual wealth of the Arab people, comparable to ancient Chinese calligraphy.
Arabic calligraphy plaque hanging in the hall
It seems that it is almost time to pray, and I see a lot of Muslims preparing before praying.
The small purification before prayer is an essential procedure
Muslims perform a small purification before the general prayer, which is compared to the large purification. Small nets are divided into the following steps: cleaning the head, cleaning the eyes, nose, ears, gargling, etc.; Wash the forearms below the elbow; Wash your feet. Dajing, on the other hand, needs to strip naked for a Turkish bath.
People entered the mosque one after another to wait for prayers
The Blue Mosque is not only the most important cultural sightseeing spot in Istanbul and even in Turkey, but also a place of Muslim prayer in use. Tourists were not allowed to be present during the prayers, and before leaving I hurriedly took a few photos of Muslims praying.
There are already people who can't wait to pray
Stepping out of the Blue Mosque is the famous racecourse connected to it. It is a rectangular square, which in the Byzantine period was once an arena in the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, and in the Ottoman Empire, it became a racecourse, and now this open space has long become a garden square for citizens and tourists to visit and relax. Many of the historical relics originally here have been placed in the museum, and the stones that formed the auditorium have become important building materials for Constantinople, including the stone raw materials used to build the Blue Mosque.
Several important monuments on the racecourse include a pavilion and three monuments (columns).
Deutsches Fountain Pavilion
A gift from the Germanic Emperor Wilhelm II to the then Sultan Mehmed II in 1898.
Deutsches Fountain Pavilion
Golden mosaic decoration on the pavilion
Egyptian Obelisk
Also known as the Western Obelisk of Theodore, it was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III around 1500 BC, and in 390 AD the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius moved it from the Kanak Shrine on the banks of the Nile, and it is said that for transportation, a special passage was built between the pier and the racecourse, and it took the craftsmen 32 days to set it on the central axis.
Egyptian Obelisk
The base of the obelisk is engraved with reliefs in the ancient Roman style
Snake pillar
At 8 meters high, it was originally a monument built by ancient Greece in the 5th century BC for the victory of Persia, and was moved by Constantine the Great from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece. The three snakes coiled together, and the original snake's head had long since disappeared.
Bronze snake pillar (original)
The serpent pillar I photographed in front of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece (replica)
Column of Constantine
It is the only indigenous building, 32 meters high, with a layer of bronze relief wrapped around the outside of the original brick columns, which is said to have been plundered by the Papal crusades.
Column of Constantine
At the western end of the racecourse there is another monument worth visiting: the Underground Palace.
Underground palace
Its history dates back more than a thousand years, and its role is nothing more than a large reservoir of water. The interior is 140 meters long, 70 meters wide and 8 meters high, with a total of 336 large Corinthian stone columns. In ancient Greek mythology, there was a beautiful woman Medusa who was transformed into a "snake-haired banshee" with several poisonous snakes wrapped around her head because she offended the god of war, and interestingly, it is said that when your eyes come into contact with her, you will immediately turn into a stone. People entering the underground palace will go to see the banshee, but so far, no one has been heard of turning into stone.
Underground palace
The biggest attraction of the two horizontal and upside-down Medusa heads as stepping stones (the above two)
Why is there a picture of Medusa's head here? Some say that the builders used her to ward off evil spirits, and some say that the heads of some of the city's monumental figures were used as cushions, but they just took the heads of two Medusas. Whatever the reason, the truth is that she has been asleep here for more than a thousand years.
#Take you around the world##Turkey##我的旅行日记 #
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