ISTANBUL

On Sunday, January 18, a group of 24 people met at the Vienna Airport. We decided to kick off the "Středově(c)ký rok 2015" (“Medieval Year 2015”) with a group excursion to “Constantinople”. In the afternoon, our plane landed at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in the Asian part of Istanbul, and without any complications, our expedition led us directly to the hotel we had booked. The dollhouse-like Hotel Buhara, located near the Hagia Sophia and the entire historic centre, became our art historical base. From here, awakened each morning by the early crowing of local roosters (that is, the call to morning prayer from the surrounding mosques), we set out to discover the Byzantine Empire's surviving beauties, and usually returned to our rooms only at the end of the day. After a brief stay, on Sunday evening, the group made a visit to Galata – the vibrant district of architecture, which became the only part of the city we visited beyond the Bosphorus. Sunday came to an end in the authentic spirit of this "oriental empire" – at the local teahouse. The teahouse's large space had a delightful exotic atmosphere, saturated with various scents of tobacco and tea served as an evening reward for the "cross temple" day.

Monday started with a visit to the church of St. Sergei and Bakcha, the so-called Little Sophia, opposite which the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul used to be. After a thorough examination of this almost fairy-tale, blue-and-white marble interior, our day continued literally along the original ancient walls. Besides the beauty of the walls themselves, there is also the hidden gem of the Silivri-Kapi Mausoleum. It is a seemingly inconspicuous small building from the fifth century, which local homeless people often find their home in front of (and probably also inside). However, inside the mausoleum, there are three sarcophagi with rich reliefs (one even in marble), which were our next interest. From the ancient walls, the field trip continued with a visit to the mosques, the so-called Fatih Complex, and a visit of the mosque of Sultan the Magnificent. The essence of ideas and forms of Turkish church architecture were formed from this building.

All of Tuesday morning was devoted to the Church of the Savior in Chora, or rather its impressive interior decorations. The unprecedented beauty and richness of mosaic scenes and murals were followed by a two-hour walk that led us to the church located behind the original city walls. We experienced its apse – parekklesion, inner and outer narthex for several hours so intensely that some of us (especially from the first year, who were not sufficiently prepared for the intensity of the field trip) almost had parts of their limbs fall off. However, even this experience did not detract enjoyment from the inner space of the church, maybe even on the contrary – this catharsis led us to an even stronger experience. And so, we went to the church of Pammakaristos. Its parekklesion, which probably served as a private chapel, hides the preserved original mosaic decoration. The last object visited on Tuesday was the image of Theodosius in the Church of the Patriarchs. This image of the Virgin Mary with little Christ was part of an icon celebrating the "triumph of Orthodoxy" and the resumption of iconic worship in 843.

Wednesday was entirely dedicated to the Hagia Sophia. We thoroughly studied and absorbed the space. First, in parts (the mosaic decoration of narthexes, apses, imperial donations, marble decorations…), which only over time began to merge into a gradual understanding, and subsequent experience, of the entire space. Thanks to the time spent there, we were able to experience light as a significant influence on the visual appearance of the entire interior space. The various parts of the temple, separated by the sun's rays, as well as the extensive mosaics themselves, would certainly be one of the most meaningful experiences of the whole field trip. In the early evening, part of the group went on a tour of the ancient cistern, the Basilica Cistern, which was designed to supply water to the nearby Topkapi Palace and other houses in a siege of the city. Thursday was a "catch-up" day. We had to visit everything we had not been able to visit until that moment. We started with the nearest places to the hotel: a visit to the Blue Mosque and Theodosius Obelisk. After these monuments, we continued to the Museum of ground mosaics, discovered in the first half of the twentieth century. In the museum, extensive panel walkways from the sixth century consisting of various mosaic scenes were introduced to us. This peristyle was probably part of the palace decoration, and various mimetic and narrative scenes have been well preserved. From the ground mosaics, we proceeded to the first basilica and church in Constantinople – the church of St. Irena. This "mother of basilicas with a dome in the traditional sense of the word" surprised us not only with its magnificent synthronone, but also with its visible iconoclastic aesthetics – where "only" a symbol (cross) in place of the original painting is present. The church of St. Irena was followed by a visit to the Archaeological Museum, where the misfortune of our last day began. The part of the museum we most wanted to see was closed due to renovations. We missed the pulpit from Thessaloniki, the statue of Hodigitria, and the golden paten with the Communion of the Apostles. Nevertheless, we visited the museum. In the end, we saw porphyry sarcophagi, the only surviving Christian mosaic from the period before iconoclasm, and Theodosian sarcophagi. We also got acquainted with Byzantine modern "tile" art. The last visit, “the icing on the cake”, was the Church of Pantokrator. Unfortunately, this was also closed for renovation, so we had to settle for a view of almost the entire city from the church's location and its external appearance.

The “last supper” of our field trip took place in the tearoom, again, where we – surrounded by hookahs, salep and apple tea – sang until the following day, Friday. Then a trip to the airport and a pleasant flight home. Perhaps because of the trip’s short duration or maybe because of its intensity, richness, and above all, a barely descriptive atmosphere, the entire time spent in Istanbul now seems like a dream. What caused this dreamy mood for the entire trip? Mainly, the people and the atmosphere created by them. Over the years, students, together with Ivan Foletti and Ondřej Jakubec, have created (for at least some of us) a never-before-seen style of educational trip. Those who know the people at the Centre for Early Medieval Studies are probably not surprised to hear that an atmosphere like the end of summer camp hung in the air upon our farewell at Vienna Airport.