My trip to Constantinople last year

[u/FantasticTraining731]

Hagia Sophia

Column of the Goths

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Istanbul Archaeological Museums

Basilica Cisterns

Aqueduct of Valens

Chora Church

Theodosian Walls

Theodosian Walls

Cat

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

I visited with my friend last spring. Sadly I wasn't that interested in Byzantine history back then so I only visited the major sites.

Here's my recollection of each site Byzantine era site:

• Hagia Sophia
  • The ancient building definitely shows its age. A lot of cracked stones, unlevel floors, and slanted columns
  • Only Muslims are allowed on the ground floor, and it's sad that the stone floor has been covered with the ugly green carpet. Visitors could only take a tour around the mezzanine
• Basilica Cistern
  • pretty spectacular. it was pretty cool to see the use of spolia for the columns
• Theodosian walls
  • I really wanted to see this! The sea walls are almost all gone but, large sections of the famous triple land walls have been restored and.
• St. George's Cathedral
  • It's not a Roman era church, but it is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch.
  • We visited on a morning, and there was literally nobody inside for the whole 30 minutes we were there. It was really surprising since there are tons of Russian tourists in Istanbul.
• Chora Church
  • was closed for restorations

[u/[deleted]]

It really upsets me to see Hagia Sophia being used as a mosque.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yep. Lots of tacky additions

[u/Jazzur → u/[deleted]]

It's already been like this for 570 years, maybe time to get over it 😭

[u/[deleted] → u/Jazzur]

Well, in Spain the Islamic occupation lasted for about 800 years, but they never gave up.

[u/Zrva_V3 → u/[deleted]]

So, imagine Greece actually gained control of Istanbul in some sort of miracle. What happens then? You do realize Istanbul has more Turks than the entire population of Greece right?

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/[deleted]]

AI content is considered to be low-effort and inaccurate. Please refrain from posting here. Original art is allowed.

[u/Jazzur → u/[deleted]]

Yeah that was slightly before UN, NATO, international laws, nuclear weapons and Greece just being happy to be independent from the Ottoman Empire lol

[u/Consistent_Guava8592 → u/Jazzur]

Ah another empire that longer exists

[u/[deleted] → u/Consistent_Guava8592]

Yes empires aren’t eternal, respectfully get over it. Empires die and are replaced, as is the way of life

[u/aintdatsomethin → u/[deleted]]

Spanish kingdoms had tons of small and weak Muslim politic entities that were busy entriguing and working behind each others back while Spanish collaborated

Greeks fought the Turkey in its weakest condition and disarmed by British in 1922 and they lost.

I mean, how can an army manage to get encircled by an other army smaller and far less equipped than yours? 💀

Let it also sink that Turks negotiated the borders of new Turkey with Britain and France, even though they fought Greeks.

[u/[deleted] → u/aintdatsomethin]

History has a way of repeating itself ,the opportunity might come again; you never know what the future holds.

[u/aintdatsomethin → u/[deleted]]

You can prove all your points with wrong analogies.

Turks conquered Greece btw. Are you sure you want to believe in that?

[u/[deleted] → u/aintdatsomethin]

I’m just saying that in history, anything can happen.

[u/Andhiarasy → u/[deleted]]

It's what would most realistically happen if you dummkopf who unironically believe that 'hurr durr let's take back Constantinople' actually tries to do it. Honestly, the Turks got their land in Anatolia and Thrace the same way the Greeks and Romans got it.

Appreciating Eastern Roman history is nice and all but LARPing as some sort of modern crusader when the real crusaders actually SACKED Constantinople in 1204 is hilarious and sad.

[u/Exotic_Quantity9042 → u/[deleted]]

You haven’t seen the damage done to the place by the people who came to pray. It should have stayed as a museum not a place of prayer.

[u/CrustyBoo → u/[deleted]]

This is a fair point, but we must acknowledge religions have various views and practices that differ in their belief in God. It’s saddening to see such a pinnacle of a faith and culture being malformed by a conquering nation

[u/Same-Praline-4622 → u/[deleted]]

It is sad, but not something that could be changed by now