Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Byzantine Empire and Muslim Empire Compare: Religious Architecture
      
     Alike in many ways, the Churches of the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Mosques can be used almost
interchangeably. This was proven by the Muslims when Hagia Sophia (1). a Christian Church in the former Byzantine Empire, was converted into a mosque just by painting the walls over with white-wash. The image in Figure 1 is Hagia Sophia; a church that was constructed for the Christian faith; was later converted to a mosque. Hagia Sophia inspired the creation of a mosque, seen in Figure 2, The Blue Mosque.  But both the church and the mosque were built for beauty. Procopius, an antique scholar, said that it was stunning and grand, dwarfing all else. Another person remarked quite like Procopius did saying that The Blue Mosque eclipsed even the most beautiful mosques.

Hagia Sophia, as seen in the picture, has four spires called minarets rising from the main building as decoration. Huda states in his article on Islamic Mosque Archetecture that the minarets have a scalloped design around the side; that is seen in the design of The Blue Mosque as well. At the top pointed, not rounded turrets cap the spires.  Circular domes surrounding the main dome on lower levels cover other buildings leading to the main building; this is similar to, but not quite like the other. The Hagia Sophia has domes topping the buildings connected to the main one around the base. Archways serve as doors and windows for all the levels.    


The Blue Mosque, in this photograph, has six spires and domes surrounding the main building closer than the ones in Hagia Sophia. There are less blocks used in the making of this, and more smaller domes. The domes are more incorporated into the actual building than the other one, although there are more windows in this building, they are not as big as the ones in Hagia Sophia, though both have arch-type windows.  

Figure #1- (Hagia Sophia)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ql1RAeXQnsuT_TEfnr-OzEL3cldcExdHT5FfuFOMRNHT1poBq4DdrwK0g_48ZRONjYU9tGiN_eNXyADyItctb4V_cplR5U5Bmf2-06NYadoJmFuYXSJn9aI1Ww

Figure #2- (The Blue Mosque) 
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iNHZ5GRdVWFVkH1zFUK8EuClTZPMyzjUU49R7jP92cQSu7r_ItYBS-bVCTVfIa55WdnP3QjiJJ5T5H9P-qSuwRhr7B33cWWEi79v75IJDunZnQiZsA5MAeYIBw


On the outside they are more similar than they are on the inside due to the art, and the layout of the furniture.
It is so easy to interchange the Islamic Mosque and the Byzantine Church because, in the Middle East at this time, main center domes built on top of symmetric bases with minarets surrounding it. (Minaret: spires)

On the inside of a typical, traditional Islamic mosque there are patterns of flowers or shapes on the inside of the dome. The  ancient Muslims, could not draw, paint, or do any art with the subject as a  person. Because they believed God was the only one who could use his image to create something.That is why the art on the walls of their mosques did not display any art of people, it is also why they put white wash over the mosaics of Jesus and angels when they converted the church Hagia Sophia. On the other hand, in Byzantine Churches it was very popular to put mosaics of the scenes of the Bible on the walls.

In both religions, there is no predetermined, mandatory way that a church or mosque has to look. There is no religious factor in why they chose the way it was built other than it was convenient and beautiful. 

Works Cited-

Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis; Spectrum Color Library/Heritage-Images; ©Payle Marjanovic/Shutterstock.com

Barbu, Constantin. The Blue Mosque at Sunset . 2006. Photograph. WikipediaWeb. 4 Dec 2013.                  

Brown, Robert . Hagia Sophia Interior . 2009. Photograph. Medieval Civilization: Lecture Notes Web. 4 Dec 2013.

Cravan, Jackie . "Architecture ." About.com. About.com, 19 Jul 2013. Web. 5 Dec 2013.

Huda, . "Islamic Mosque Architecture ." About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 5 Dec 2013.

Meydani, Sultanahmet. "Hagia Sophia."www.hagiasophia.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec 2013.

Norwich , John . Great Architecture of the World . London : Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited, 1979. 84-85 and 130-131. Print.

Sloan, Anna. "Construction of Istanbul’s Nur-u Osmaniye Complex." Great Events from History: The Eighteenth Century. Ed. Powell John. 2 vols. Salem Press, 2006. Salem History Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

"Procopius: quote on Hagia Sophia." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Brooks , Sarah. "The Byzantine State under Justinian I." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 11 Dec 2013.



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