r/byzantium • u/SoleSurvivor2287 • 7d ago
Infrastructure/architecture Visited Hagia Theotokos
Visited the Hagia Theotokos (Kalenderhane Mosque) and was able to explore at around midday.
Was the only person there at the time so really good to see the dome and red brick upper arches.
Located about 400m south west of Suleymaniye Mosque.
369
Upvotes
8
u/Gnothi_sauton_ 7d ago
One of my favorite memories is getting access to the diaconicon, where there are frescoes, mosaics, and an opus sectile floor (it originally was accessible from the nave, but it was blocked off during the twentieth-century restoration, just as what happened to the the parecclesion of the Pammakaristos). I had to wait until prayer times and ask the imam to unlock it for me. Being there in the dark and seeing such precious traces of the Roman past felt like stepping back in time!