(lively piano music)
Voiceover: We think of Hagia Sophia as a Byzantine church
but it also has this whole other life
after the invasion of the Ottoman Turks.
Voiceover: We tend to forget about that.
We tend to focus on this amazing Byzantine building
and we forget about its afterlife and history
from 1453 until the establishment
of the Turkish Republic when it became a museum.
Voiceover: Buildings are living things
and they accrue meaning
and they change as societies around them change.
This is just such a stark example.
Voiceover: Because it was the most important
Byzantine church
it was an obvious thing for conversion.
Because mosques and churches
are spaces for congregations
changing a few key things
allow you to re-purpose the building almost immediately.
Voiceover: Constantinople was the primary city
in the Byzantine East.
It seems this treasure
and within the city the real jewel was this church.
Voiceover: As the Byzantine Empire
had been in financial decline
and shrinking in terms of territory,
this was one of the few things that got maintained
and was still in good conditions
where lots of other things in Constantinople
weren't in great shape
when the Ottoman Turks took it in 1453.
Voiceover: I've read that the population had plummeted.
Voiceover: Because of that a lot of the
smaller church's walls weren't in great shape
but this building still was.
It was an obvious thing to convert
and also it's got prime position.
You can see it's very close to the Bosphorus
and it's also where a lot of key buildings
later on are going to be built
by the Ottoman Turks.
It's unsurprising that this was the first thing
that was adapted and modified.
Voiceover: Because it was adapted,
because it was turned from an orthodox church
into a mosque, it survived.
Voiceover: It becomes a symbol of authority
because if this was the symbol of the Byzantine Empires
religious authority and the emperor's authority,
this then by converting it
having it become a mosque
is a symbol of the sultan's power in the city
and throughout the empire.
It has a huge symbolic quality of sovereignty.
Voiceover: What evidence do we have of that conversion?
Voiceover: The most obvious things
are the covering up of the mosaics.
They removed some of the later paint
and plastering you can see them.
Voiceover: The mosaics were covered up
not because the Muslims don't
recognize Christ as at least a prophet
but because of the prohibition
of figural imagery especially within a religious space.
Voiceover: Certainly that and also
Christ when he is depicted
he's not depicted as Christ, he's Jesus,
and he's a prophet.
He doesn't appear with Mary.
He doesn't appear as Christ Pantocrator
which is this very typical image
in Eastern Orthodox churches.
You can't have him being shown in those ways
because those are very Christian depictions of Jesus.
Voiceover: While we may not have figural images
we certainly have lots of symbols.
Voiceover: Probably the most obvious thing when you come in
are the enormous bits of Arabic calligraphy.
Calligraphy is perhaps
the most important Islamic art.
Arabic in the word is critical
to the foundation of Islam
because the belief is that Mohammed recited
the words of God as told to him directly.
Arabic is very important.
What's interesting to me of course
is that a lot of these round drills
which were later additions they're in Arabic
so a lot of the community couldn't read them.
Voiceover: Even though they were Muslim
this still would have been a foreign language.
Voiceover: Of course because they spoke Turkish.
When you walk into Hagia Sophia
you walk in and you proceed towards the [aps]
and everything looks normal
until you notice that the mihrab is off center.
Voiceover: The mihrab is the niche
at the far end of the building
that is a way of pointing towards Mecca.
Voiceover: It's really the important thing
because it has to tell you
which direction you're supposed to pray
and the thing is it's off center here
because that's the direction of Mecca.
Voiceover: In fact I noticed
that not only is the mihrab off center
but all of the architectural elements that in case it,
that is the platform on which it's placed
and the staircase to the right, the minbar
are all oriented together
but in opposition to the church that surrounds it.
Voiceover: You don't notice it
unless you're really paying attention.
We also have the platform
for the muezzin to make the call to prayer
within the mosque,
and then we also have the Sultan's lodge
all of which are oriented
more towards the south than east
the way the building is oriented.
You can have these interior additions
which reorient the space in a very powerful way.
Voiceover: I want to go back to the Sultan's lodge
because it's just magnificent.
Voiceover: It's gorgeous.
The sultan held a very special position.
He's the political authority
but around him developed a cult of personality.
He was viewed as being divinely appointed.
His person is sacred
and there were very strict protocols
that developed in terms of who could talk to him.
In many ways later on in the Ottoman Empire
he gets very isolated,
but this is how he would come and worship.
He has his own entrance
and then he has his own elaborate procession way in.
There's a whole balcony
that he would be able to walk into.
Everyone could see him
but no one could touch him.
Also, it's elevated.
It's not on the same level.
He's on a different plain above.
Voiceover: Then probably the most obvious addition
are the incredible minarets outside.
Voiceover: These four very tall, thin pencil minarets.
Pencil minarets and domes are what
everyone comes to associate with Ottoman architecture.
They're the quintessential features of mosque architecture
but also of the Ottoman urban landscape.
Voiceover: By pencil minaret
you're distinguishing them from the thicker minarets
that you see maybe in Egypt.
The purpose of the minaret was
as a high place to call the faithful to prayer.
Voiceover: In some sense is it's very functional.
The muezzin goes up
and he calls everyone to prayer.
It's a much better position for doing that
than on the ground.
Your voice can travel much further.
Today we can see the speakers, the megaphones.
Voiceover: They woke me up this morning.
Voiceover: They also provide you with a great opportunity
to define your skyline.
By building in a distinctive style
it asserts who you are
and what your identity is
but it also helps all of us today
who are looking at these buildings
go, pencil minarets must be Ottomans.
It's a really clear distinguishing feature
because you don't get them in Central Asia.
You don't get them in Iran.
You really only get them where
the Ottoman Empire had a presence.
There are two earlier ones.
One built by Mahmed II and then one by Sinan,
the famous architect
who built many of the great monuments in Istanbul
in the Ottoman Empire.
Then we have two more that were added by Murad III,
a sultan from the late 16th century.
The number of minarets you have is significant.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque or the Blue Mosque
which is right opposite Hagia Sophia has six
which was a bit of a controversy when it was built
because that's the number Mecca had.
Voiceover: The Blue Mosque is such a great example
of the kind of impact that Hagia Sophia as a mosque
had on the architecture throughout the city.
Voiceover: You can't underestimate
the importance of Hagia Sophia
both in terms of the use of domes and its plan,
and as we go and look at other mosque
and as you look at different Ottoman creations here
you'll start to see that
no matter how much there is innovation,
and there is huge innovation,
Hagia Sophia is always somewhere lurking
in the back of an architect's mind.
Voiceover: I can see why.
(lively piano music)