Istanbul the shards of a beautiful mosaic
For those like me who feel slightly daunted by Turkey's tumultuous and extremely complicated history, Hagia Sophia offers an easy entry. It perfectly sums up a prevailing theme in Turkish history - the conflict between Christianity and Islam, the triumph of the latter and now the coexistence of the two, in a place that, judging by its current status as a public museum, is more secular than religious.
But there is more to it than that. In 2007 Chris Spirou, a Greek American politician, set up an international organization, Free Agia Sophia Council, championing the cause of restoring the building to its original function as a Christian church. The reaction from the other camp was vociferous. Most notably on March 31 this year, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Muslim, recited the first verse of the Quran in the Hagia Sophia, strengthening a drive to make the place a mosque once again.
The sanctuary has always reflected the shifting political and social tableau of Turkey. Thanks to its humbling beauty and magnificence, it was spared the violent end that befell many of those who had worshipped and sought refuse there, most notably during the fall of Constantinople to Ottoman forces in 1453.
The day we visited, restoration work was still going on, with floor-to-ceiling scaffolding taking up almost one fifth of its inside space. This is nothing new to Hagia Sophia. Over the past one and half millennia the main structure has suffered damage including partial crumbling at one time or another. Each time efforts were undertaken to ensure that this monument to change continues to stand.
