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Beestie · 05-09-2005, 10:17 AM

There are some historically significant Cathedrals and Mosques in Istanbul.

Here's a pic of The Blue Mosque

And, of course, the mother of all Cathedrals, The Highia Sophia:

And here is an interesting shot showing just how close the two monuments are:

Highia Sophia was built around 600 AD and converted around 1400 AD to a mosque. 200 years later, they built The Blue Mosque not a quarter of a mile away. I can think of two reasons why they built the new mosque but I'm not interested enough to track down the answer. One reason could be that the Highia Sophia does not "point" to Mecca and so the prayers, instead of landing within earshot of Allah, just go flying off into space somewhere; and the second might be that a converted Christian cathedral was just not good enough.

For the record, I believe the mosque in the original post is the Mosque of Solomon.

05-09-2005, 10:17 AM	#3
Beestie -◊\|≡·∙■·∙≡\|◊- Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Parts unknown. Posts: 4,081	There are some historically significant Cathedrals and Mosques in Istanbul. Here's a pic of The Blue Mosque And, of course, the mother of all Cathedrals, The Highia Sophia: And here is an interesting shot showing just how close the two monuments are: Highia Sophia was built around 600 AD and converted around 1400 AD to a mosque. 200 years later, they built The Blue Mosque not a quarter of a mile away. I can think of two reasons why they built the new mosque but I'm not interested enough to track down the answer. One reason could be that the Highia Sophia does not "point" to Mecca and so the prayers, instead of landing within earshot of Allah, just go flying off into space somewhere; and the second might be that a converted Christian cathedral was just not good enough. For the record, I believe the mosque in the original post is the Mosque of Solomon. __________________ ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ Last edited by Beestie; 05-09-2005 at 10:20 AM.