Tea at Trianon: The Stones of Hagia Sophia

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, July 23, 2020

The Stones of Hagia Sophia

Everyone is acting like the Turks just conquered Constantinople. The Hagia Sophia was made into a mosque in 1453. It has not been a church since. For awhile, it was a museum, because people came from all over the world to see what had been the largest church ever. It may be a church again before the end of the world but a lot has to change first. From Catholic World Report:

The Hagia Sophia stood as the most prominent Christian church in the world from its construction under Justinian until until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans and it was turned into a mosque. So impressive is this edifice that much Turkish architecture is largely modeled after it, including other prominent mosques. Islam’s aversion to images meant the Hagia Sophia’s mosaics, icons, and frescoes were either destroyed or plastered over. The integrity of the structure was altered as Islamic features were added, the most prominent of which are the tall minarets on the outside from which the Muslim call to prayer never ceased to issue forth even after it became a museum.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, Atatürk turned the Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934. He did so for the for the purposes of conserving it as a monument of world heritage and so it could stand as a symbol of tolerance and peace. In becoming a museum where restorers and conservationists were granted ready access, much of the structure’s Byzantine mosaics were recovered. For the first time in nearly 500 years the light of day shone again on the glittering images depicting the Lord Jesus Christ and His Virgin Mother. For the past ninety years all visitors have been able gaze upon these symbols of the Christian patrimony and heritage of Turkey.

Turkey’s decision to change the status of the Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque again has been met with protest the world over. The strongest objections, understandably, have come from the Eastern Orthodox nations of Greece and Russia, but even the United States Secretary of State and some senators have weighed in. The current Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, is the heir to all those patriarchs before him who once sat in the Hagia Sophia. In Istanbul there is a little remnant of the Byzantine Empire in the neighborhood of the Phanar where his church and offices have been relegated. From there he has said, in part:

What can I say as a Christian clergyman and the Greek Patriarch in Istanbul? Instead of uniting a 1,500-year-old heritage we are being divided. I am saddened and shaken…we have survived for 17 centuries and we will stay here forever, as God wills.
It is not immediately clear how the Hagia Sophia’s change in status status will effect the monument. There is fear that its historic mosaics might be covered up again or destroyed. There is also concern that historians, conservationists, pilgrims, and tourists may be prohibited from entering or could have their access severely limited. Given the treatment of so many other churches by the Turks, these concerns are not unfounded. (Read more.)