Tea at Trianon: The Long-Lost Imperial Baptistery

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, May 23, 2019

The Long-Lost Imperial Baptistery

At Hagia Sophia. From Live Science:

Archaeologists have discovered what may be the long-lost Great Baptistery at the largest Christian cathedral ever constructed in the ancient world. Inside that structure, emperors would have baptized their children more than 1,400 years ago. In addition to the baptistery, the archaeologists made several other discoveries at the Hagia Sophia (which means "holy wisdom") cathedral, located in what is today Istanbul.

Between 2004 and 2018, the researchers discovered previously unknown buildings, reconstructed what the cathedral's Patriarchal Palace looked like and even identified a spot where the Byzantine emperor once stood during a ceremony, said project leaders Ken Dark and Jan Kostenec in a recently published book, "Hagia Sophia in Context: An Archaeological Reexamination of the Cathedral of Byzantine Constantinople" (Oxbow Books, 2019). [See Photos of the Discoveries at the Hagia Sophia]

The cathedral has a long history. In the year 532, a series of riots resulted in a church called Hagia Sophia being burned down. In response, Justinian I (reign 527 to 565), the Byzantine emperor, ordered the construction of a massive cathedral, also to be called Hagia Sophia. Completed in 537, that structure has a dome that soars 180 feet (55 meters) above the ground. Then, in 1453, the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople (as Istanbul was called at the time) and turned the cathedral into a mosque. Today, the Hagia Sophia is a museum. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: This event and many like it in the past should be an historical lesson to the lovers of Islam in Western Europe and the U.S. that the same power could over-run our Western ideals and beliefs. There is currently an invasion of the West that may not be military but is militant nevertheless.; May 23, 2019 at 9:56:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: You are absolutely correct.; May 23, 2019 at 12:27:00 PM EDT