I was obsessed with stone in Turkey.
The city was a Lego world of historic stacks of every color and texture of the stuff. At any moment I could breathe the ancientness surroundeding me, could feel the age pressing down on my young spirit.
It was daunting to imagine the millions of people who had stepped through and lived their stories within the walls or on the streets of Istanbul. It was a world of hieroglyphics from various cultures guarding the modern state that is rising within.
The history of Istanbul does not haunt the city like I expected. It’s actually the pulse from which the grid’s pride, diversity and value lives on.
The day we toured the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, I gave up taking pictures. The frame was too pathetic to capture all that was shadowing me. Pixels couldn’t capture the layers upon layers of codes and stories that have flowed in and out of those walls.
That’s when the Hagia Sophia stole me.
I looked up in marvel of what human hands can create when praising one they believe in. When so motivated, indestructible beauty is a result of the mind connecting with fingers to produce such a spectacle.
The Hagia Sophia has traces both of Islam and Christianity blended together. The overall affect of the structure is still breathtaking, despite its messy history.
All at once, I was proud of what humans can accomplish and also disgusted in the conquering and fighting that ensues from our differences. These contradictions (a theme in my blogs that I’ve noticed) portray a mosaic of peoples, just like Istanbul.
If each person was a city, I imagine we would be like Istanbul.
We’re each a new tree ring around layers of others, grown from the roots of those who came before us, wired by all that created us yet developing with the modernity we live in.
To think we are each a real individual, a person created on our own, I would ask that you look at Istanbul and ask how it became the unique place that it is.
The city was a Lego world of historic stacks of every color and texture of the stuff. At any moment I could breathe the ancientness surroundeding me, could feel the age pressing down on my young spirit.
It was daunting to imagine the millions of people who had stepped through and lived their stories within the walls or on the streets of Istanbul. It was a world of hieroglyphics from various cultures guarding the modern state that is rising within.
The history of Istanbul does not haunt the city like I expected. It’s actually the pulse from which the grid’s pride, diversity and value lives on.
The day we toured the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, I gave up taking pictures. The frame was too pathetic to capture all that was shadowing me. Pixels couldn’t capture the layers upon layers of codes and stories that have flowed in and out of those walls.
That’s when the Hagia Sophia stole me.
I looked up in marvel of what human hands can create when praising one they believe in. When so motivated, indestructible beauty is a result of the mind connecting with fingers to produce such a spectacle.
The Hagia Sophia has traces both of Islam and Christianity blended together. The overall affect of the structure is still breathtaking, despite its messy history.
All at once, I was proud of what humans can accomplish and also disgusted in the conquering and fighting that ensues from our differences. These contradictions (a theme in my blogs that I’ve noticed) portray a mosaic of peoples, just like Istanbul.
If each person was a city, I imagine we would be like Istanbul.
We’re each a new tree ring around layers of others, grown from the roots of those who came before us, wired by all that created us yet developing with the modernity we live in.
To think we are each a real individual, a person created on our own, I would ask that you look at Istanbul and ask how it became the unique place that it is.
RSS Feed
