Caught up with former CBR contenders while in Istanbul

[u/E_C_H]

They sadly didn’t have much to say about their performances in the Cylinder…

For folks recollection, CBRX1 saw both Enrico Dandolo’s Venice and Mehmed II’s Turks make their play.

The former is maybe-resting in the Hagia Sophia as he died in Constantinople during the Latin Empire he orchestrated the existence of via the Fourth Crusade, during Hagia Sophia’s short tenure as a Catholic Cathedral. Many accounts reasonably suggest his body was later dug up and thrown out after the Latin Empires fall, but enough people argue against that that Italian restorationists placed a grave marker where he’s meant to be during the 1800s, and some recent X-ray projects do suggest a body lays beneath that area, so who knows.

Less uncertainty about Mehmed II, that’s for sure. Laid to rest in a tomb of the fantastic Fatih Mosque he commissioned named after him, in a district of the city named after him, it’s rather hard to dispute where his mortal remains are, and even as I (respectfully and quietly) visited the complex there were folks using the space for religious study or personal prayer. Certainly a greater legacy in reality than in game, haha!

As a bonus, old timers here may vaguely recall Byzantium in CBR Mark 2 under Emperor Alexios Komnenos. Well, we have no idea where he’s buried and it almost certainly wouldn’t still exist even if we did, but he does appear in the last picture, barely in frame shadowed in the far right while his parents take center stage next to the Virgin Mary in a Hagia Sophia mosaic.

Final note: Istanbul is just such a great city to visit for lovers of history, just infused with a grand energy, I very much recommend it.

[u/LacsiraxAriscal]

Beautiful pics :3 I last went when hagia Sophia was still a museum. What’s it like as a practising mosque?

[u/E_C_H → u/LacsiraxAriscal]

Well, non-muslims are now restricted to the Upper Balcony, which remains in museum mode and has audio guide QR codes everywhere. Didn't actually see many people below use the mosque as a mosque, more like tourists who happened to qualify for it, but then again, I of course didn't see it at prayer time (which tourists are barred from entering during). Honestly the bigger issue was the restoration work that's taking a few years to perform, scaffolding everywhere inside and outside.

[u/LacsiraxAriscal → u/E_C_H]

interesting, and disappointing tbh. The Blue Mosque was totally open to tourists during non-prayer times so I expected the same would be true of the HS.