Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)
URL:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Blue_Mosque_Courtyard_Dusk_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg/800px-Blue_Mosque_Courtyard_Dusk_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg
Blue Mosque also named as Sultanahmet Camii. It is the best structures of Mehmet Aga, who is the student of Sinan, the most famous classic architect of the Islam World. Also, Blue Mosque is one of the most important landmarks of Istanbul. Blue Mosque is started building in 1609, which located on the central of the old city of Istanbul. The name of the Mosque is came from the wall and floor of it, since or these materials are only using two clour, blue and white. Blue Mosque belongs to Arab style architecture. Around the Mosque there are six slight tower, which are the symbol of six faiths of Islam. In addition, Blue Mosque is one of the world's top ten wonders.
Hagia Sophia
URL:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg/800px-Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg
http://cdn.gohistoric.com/img/21/64/80/gohistoric_21648_z.jpg
Hagia Sophia has about 1500 years of its history. It is very famous of its huge round roof, and it is a symbol of Byzantine style architecture. Haiga Sophia, which in Latin is called Sancta Sophia, means the wisdom of the god. Hagia Sophia's location used to have two other churches, but both of them were destroyed by rebel and violence. In 532, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire asked to build the third chuch, which was Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia is near and even next to Blue Mosque. Nowadays, it is a museum both belongs to the believer of Christianity and Muhammad.
Galata Tower
URL:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Galata_tower_2005.jpg/450px-Galata_tower_2005.jpg
Galata Tower, which in Turkish is called Galata Kulesi, is a middle century stone tower. It is located on Galata district of Istanbul. Galata Tower has nine floor, high 66.9 meters. When it was building, it was the highest structure of the city. On the top floor of the tower there are a restaurant and a cafe, which are the best place to view the whole Istanbul. Galata Tower was start building in 1348. Since it is a tower, it's also used to be a military place, such as a place to observe far places.
Architect
Mimar Kemaleddin Bey
Ahment Kemaleddin Bey, who is widely known as Mimar Kemalddin, was born in 1870 in Turkey. He was a famous architect of late Ottoman style architecture. He designed and build some early years structures of the newly established Republic. In 1908, Kemalddin was appinted as a director of the Construction and Restoration Department at the Ministry of Foundations. After that, he did a successful work of designing four railway stations of the Oriental Railway Company, which gave him a chance to design many other stations of the country. In July 13th, 1927, Kemalddin was died because a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57. His son IIhan Mimaroglu finanlly became a well-known composer. And Kemalddin himself is now sleeping forever at the cemetery of the Bayyzid II Mosque in Istanbul.
Source:
http://www.microarch.org/micro35/Turkey/DATA/WONDERS.HTM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haso/hd_haso.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galata_Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimar_Kemaleddin#1870-1891
Turkey has some of the richest Middle Eastern architecture; however when I think of art from turkey I think of the beautiful furniture my family collected while living there. Walking through my grandparents’ house is like visiting an antique shop. They lived in the Netherlands and Turkey during the late 60sand early 70s while serving in the United States air force. Their service in the air force gave them a unique opportunity to bring these pieces of antique artistic design home with them. Without this they could have never afforded the shipment of these items because of their weight. The furniture is solid wood and the rugs heavy wool. They loved Turkey more than any other place they went mostly because of the people there but also because of the beauty encountered there. Turkey has European influence and Middle Eastern influence, has this created a unique Turkish style or has a mixture of the two persisted through time? Besides functional art, furniture and architecture, what other types of art are prominent in turkey today? I have heard quite a bit of Turkish music but are there many painters or photographers?
ReplyDeleteThe blue mosque is very beautiful and distinctive. I have seen it before in photos and always thought the minarets are what made it stand out as so recognizable. I think blue and turquoise are common colors in Islamic art and tiling. Do you know if these colors have religious significance? It is hard for me to wrap my head around all these architectural sites that were built so long ago without the use of modern technology, especially something as massive and impressive as the Blue Mosque. Hagia Sophia seems like a unique structure—the idea of the blend of traditional Christian and Islamic art and all the history that the renovations represent. I was surprised to see the figures of people painted on the walls. This is obviously from when it was a church, these kinds of representations in Christianity are common, but I was surprised the Ottomans did not destroy the paintings. Actually, even further, I am surprised they did not destroy the whole thing and instead converted it into a mosque. I think that at the time it was common to destroy notable pieces of architecture, especially something Christian, in order to demonstrate conquering might. Maybe that is what makes Hagia Sophia so unique.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the Blue Mosque was very beautiful and I recognized it from pictures of Turkey. You mentioned that the Iznik tiles had details of traditional flowers of Ottoman design, but are there other traditional designs on these Iznik tiles? I thought the history concerning the Blue Mosque and how it was built to calm God and that it had to be built on the site of the palace of Byzantine emperors. Hagia Sophia sounds like a breathtaking building. I was shocked to learn that there are figural mosaics in the building because I did not think the Islam religion was a big fan of paintings of people and their religion. The fact that Hagia Sophia has some gold used as decoration is really neat. If I ever visited Turkey, I would want to see Hagia Sophia. I was surprised to learn that the Galata Tower becomes a restaurant, nightclub, and a bar at night. Personally, I would want to better preserve the building or use it as a museum or some other way. I thought learning about Ahmet Kemaleddin was interesting; however, do you know as to why someone would move his grave? Also, I would be interested in learning about more buildings that he helped build.
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