Continuing with part 2 today from yesterday, let me walk you through the other parts of the Mosque. In the Mosque there are parts where you see presence of the Church relics, where it showcases respect and the confluence of both the religions. The beauty of this Mosque is in its center dome, it is grand and majestic almost 56 meters high with a diameter of 32 meters, which is huge and grand. From the outside also you can see this grandness of the place. There is a column in the mosque which is called as the weeping column which is believed to be blessed by a miracle worker of that time called St. Gregory. It is believed that touching this column and wishing, fulfills the wish. Honestly, I did not try this part. There was too much of crowd around it.
There are 2 parts of the mosque, the ground floor which is used for prayers by the locals, here tourist are not allowed, the level one is open for tourist and the whole mosque is visible from here. During prayer times the whole place is shut down and only kept open for local people to pray. The entrance door is a beauty, built from oak wood and brass, and the stunning Mosaics all over the mosque showcases the art over the centuries. Then there are a lot of calligraphy inscriptions on the walls which are names of key figures of the religion.
A lot of efforts have been put into its restoration and the work keeps going on continuously. The Dome has been restored with steel frames then there are platforms created to support the mosaics. A lot of care has been taken to keep it safe from earthquakes which again Turkey has faced it many times. Since it's a very old structure there is continuous work that keeps going on to maintain the beauty of the place.
This is the dome that I mentioned.
The Arabic inscriptions with holy names all over the place, and you can see the lower level which only the local people and Muslims can use for prayer only. It cannot be visited as a tourist by anyone.
Such a beautiful sight it is. I clicked the pictures from all different angles.
The Angel figures on the walls
I am not sure what is the significance of this pot, but I am sure it does have some story to it.
It's a huge place and every corner is worth visiting
The little dome down there is the main prayer area from where the priest prays
Truly it is a place worth watching, the grandeur of this place talks about how rich the ancient times were, they always thought larger than life, and making it in times when there was technology and tools innovation, one can only imagine the effort that must have gone in. These architects were of the highest grade with some grand visions.
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