Latest news with #Hat
Eater
2 days ago
- Business
- Eater
Southern California Pastrami Favorite Finally Expands to Las Vegas
Southern California's beloved pastrami destination, the Hat, is finally moving forward with plans to open in Las Vegas — six years after the chain announced it would expand to Southern Nevada. Construction is now underway on a 4,122-square-foot restaurant at 6239 South Rainbow Boulevard — the same space it staked out in 2019 — with a drive-thru and outdoor patio. The Hat has been a California staple since 1951, serving pastrami dips poised for dunking into homemade au jus, plus burgers, turkey sandwiches, and onion rings. The Hat teased the opening on Instagram, announcing a grand opening in spring 2026. The Hat joins a growing parade of regional fast food favorites expanding into Las Vegas. Most recently, Georgia's favorite fast-food chicken chain, Zaxby's, opened a drive-thru here. Earlier this year, North Carolina-based Bojangles opened in the Southwest, and Hawaii-based Zippy's opened its second location in the Vegas area. And that's not to mention the grocery stores Aldi and H-Mart, which debuted in April. Still rumored to make a Las Vegas appearance: Portillo's potentially. Late-Night Skewers Land in Chinatown The team behind Chubby Cattle's conveyor-belt hot pot restaurant and the high-tech X-Pot on the Strip is back with a new late-night venture. Chubby Skewers opens Wednesday, June 18, on Spring Mountain Road, serving Northeastern Chinese Dongbei-style barbecue from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Skewers start at just $1, with a menu that ranges from wagyu beef to duck tongue to spicy cold noodles. The space channels the energy of old-school Chinese street stalls — think bold reds, neon lights, and low tables. New York Noodle Hybrid Extends Its Short-Term Pop-Up Pastaramen, the boundary-blurring Japanese-Italian pop-up from chef Robbie Felice, is extending its run at Bar Zazu in Resorts World Las Vegas through July 12. Originally slated for just a one-month residency, the crossover has drawn crowds with dishes like cacio e pepe gyoza, mochi ramen carbonara, and a $250 truffle porcini ramen that is dramatically prepared in a flaming wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Brewdog Opens a Beer Hall Beneath Its Rooftop Behemoth UnderDog Beer Hall opens on Thursday, June 12, beneath BrewDog's massive 30,000-square-foot rooftop brewpub on the Las Vegas Strip. Tucked inside the Showcase Mall, UnderDog brings a more casual vibe with giant screens, a new pizza-focused menu, and beers on tap — including BrewDog favorites like Elvis Juice and guest pours from local Las Vegas breweries. Baguette Cafe Heads Downtown Baguette Café opened a new downtown Las Vegas location on May 22 right on Las Vegas Boulevard, near Fremont Street. It brings together signature French-inflected breakfast, brunch, and lunch fare just a block from Fremont Street. Known for thoughtful sourcing and warm hospitality, this marks the café's third outpost in the valley — and its first in the heart of Downtown. Chef Leticia Mitchell Opens Another Cocina Leticia's Cocina and Cantina is opening a new location at Boulder Station this summer. Known for dishes like birria quesatacos, shrimp ceviche, and Mexico City-style enchiladas suizas, chef Leticia Mitchell first gained national attention with an appearance on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives . This will be her second location with Station Casinos, following the original inside Santa Fe Station. She also runs Letty's, a fast-casual spin-off downtown, and sister restaurant Carmelita's Mar y Tierra in East Las Vegas. Leticia's will replace the now-closed Guadalajara restaurant. See More:
CNN
28-04-2025
- CNN
Hagia Sophia: Secrets of the 1,600-year-old megastructure that has survived the collapse of empires
Whether you're a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this place of worship — which was built as a church in 537CE before its conversion into a mosque in 1453 — creates an illusion of vastness. It feels like the space starts to expand when you enter the building. Acoustic alchemy transforms visitors' murmurs into shimmering sounds, suspended weightless in the air, like echoes of a prayer in an ancient language. The art inside the building is a testament to coexistence. There is no other place on Earth where Christian mosaics of saints and Byzantine rulers are juxtaposed with Islamic calligraphy, also known as Hüsn-i Hat — large roundels displaying the names of Allah (God), the prophet Mohammed and the four caliphs, the leaders of Islam following the death of Mohammed. Today, Hagia Sophia is one of the world's most extraordinary mosques — but it's more than that. It's also a symbol, a cultural phenomenon, and a monument. Naturally, like most monumental structures, Hagia Sophia has its own mythology. Of the many stories about the building, some are true, some are exaggerations, and some are outright fantasies. The current Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century when Constantinople — as Istanbul was then called — was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire that emerged as Ancient Rome's domination dwindled and ruled swathes of Europe and northern Africa, as far away as modern-day Spain, Libya, Egypt, and Turkey, until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453. The building we see today isn't original, having been preceded by two earlier churches at the same location — which were themselves built over a pagan temple. The first was said to have been commissioned by Constantine, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity and moved the Roman Empire's center to Constantinople, ushering in the Byzantine era. Called 'Magna Ecclesia' — Latin for 'Great Church' — it was inaugurated by Constantine's son, Constantius II, in 360 CE. It was later destroyed by followers of Saint John Chrysostom, a former archbishop of Constantinople who was banished from the city. Its second iteration was inaugurated in 415 CE by the emperor Theodosius II, but was burned down again in 532 CE. The third church, today's Hagia Sophia, was built by Justinian I, an ambitious emperor who ordered its construction on 23 February 523 CE. If an anonymous historical source quoted in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' by the 20th-century historian Reşad Ekrem Koçu is to be believed, Justinian wanted his church to be larger and more ornate than Jerusalem's Temple of Solomon, the legendary resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, said to have been built in the 10th century BCE. During its five-year construction, Justinian instructed his provincial governors to send the most exquisite artifacts from ancient ruins in their territories to Constantinople for use in Hagia Sophia. This, apparently, did the job. That same anonymous source says Justinian was struck by awe when he first entered. He ran to the altar, looked up to thank God for giving him the chance to build such a wonder — and screamed, 'I surpassed you, Solomon!' It's a wonderful story — but one that historian and Hagia Sophia expert Sedat Bornovalı says is untrue. That anonymously sourced intel was written roughly 300 years after Hagia Sophia's construction. The anecdote never appears in the works of Procopius, Justinian's official historian, who also wrote a critical book about the emperor, 'Secret History.' 'If these claims were true, we would see them either in 'Buildings' or in his 'Secret History,'' says Bornovalı, who adds that Procopius would have written something stinging like, 'The presumptuous man compared himself to the prophet Solomon.' However, while his 'Secret History' shows the historian's disdain for Justinian and his wife, Procopius still writes about Hagia Sophia with admiration. Prev Next Whatever the motivations behind it, the cost of the project and the hurry to begin the construction of what was one of the megastructures of its time also have almost mythical status. The price tag was said to be astronomical. In his book 'The Fall of the Roman Empire, A New History of Rome and the Barbarians,' historian Peter Heather said Justinian paid '15-20,000 pounds of gold.' The 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' of 1945 puts it at a more modest, but still breathtaking $75 million, equivalent to $1.3 billion today. That's more than the $1 billion cost to rebuild Notre Dame. The construction of the church started only weeks after the Nika Revolt, a devastating rebellion against Justinian that destroyed most of Constantinople, including the second Hagia Sophia. Bornovalı thinks it's possible that Justinian seized the property of his political opponents and collected a vast amount of taxes to finance the construction. 'How it was possible to create such a complex design and resolve the logistical issues within [weeks] remains among the unanswered questions,' he writes in his book, 'History's Longest Poem.' Not least because, he says, it 'would have taken years to deliver the stones and other building materials.' He thinks the budget and plans were probably ready, and Justinian took advantage of the aftermath of the Nika Revolt to start building Hagia Sophia where it is now. 'If the previous Hagia Sophia had not been destroyed, Justinian would have ordered a new version to be built elsewhere anyway,' says Bornovalı. Under the Byzantines, Hagia Sophia became the hub of Orthodox Christianity and the last standing symbol of their empire. But in 1453, when Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (a.k.a. Mehmed the Conqueror) captured Constantinople, his victory paved the way for the Ottoman Empire, which would last until 1922. To suggest to the world not only Islam's superiority but also that the Ottomans were the true heirs of the Romans, Mehmed converted Hagia Sophia to a mosque — but kept its original name. Although 'Hagia Sophia' sounds as if it was named for a Christian saint, it actually means 'Holy Wisdom' in Greek. After conquering Constantinople, the young sultan — he was only 21 — performed his first Friday prayer here, starting a tradition for all subsequent sultans of the Ottoman Empire. 'There were three steps that defined the reign of the sultans,' says Turkish historian A. Çağrı Başkurt. 'The first is to take the throne in the palace, the second is to wield a sword in Eyüp [an historic district in Istanbul], and the third is to perform the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia.' Mehmed also claimed the title 'Caesar of Rome' (Qaisar-e-Rum or Kaiser-i Rum) upon taking Constantinople. His successors continued to use the title until Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the sultanate in 1922, creating the modern state of Turkey a year later. Hagia Sofia has withstood many revolutions, occupations, riots, plunderings, and natural disasters (its construction on a base of solid rock is said to have helped it survive earthquakes). Few buildings of its age have been preserved as flawlessly and in such a complete state. The Ottoman dynasty, particularly Mehmed II, played a pivotal role in its preservation. '[Mehmed] told his army that if they conquer the city, the city is theirs for three days with the exception of Hagia Sophia,' says editor and urban researcher Hasan Mert Kaya. Koçu writes in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' that Mehmed didn't order the Christian mosaics to be covered despite the fact that Islam bans figurative art in religious contexts. However, a century later, sultan Suleiman I had them plastered over. It's thanks to the creation of the Turkish Republic created by Atatürk, a secularist, that we can see them today. In 1926, the authorities undertook a comprehensive renovation after European media claims that Hagia Sophia was in danger of collapsing. The building was closed to the public in the early 1930s for restorations, then converted into a museum in 1935 as part of a decree by Atatürk. He also commissioned the uncovering and restoration of the Byzantine mosaics. In a controversial move, in 2020, it was converted back into a mosque. The decision, involving one of the city's most important landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was criticized by international religious and political leaders, with UNESCO, the UN's cultural agency, and the pope among those voicing concern, though the move did not prompt wide opposition within Turkey. However, the second floor has been serving as a museum since 2024. Tourists can buy tickets to enter the gallery and see the prayer floor from up above. The Byzantine mosaics and images are still visible during visiting hours, and are covered with special lighting effects during worship and prayer hours. Whether Hagia Sophia should be a mosque or a museum is still debated. While some argue it should be converted back to a museum and never used for worship, others, like urban researcher Kaya, think it should stay as a place of worship — though only up to a point. 'Hagia Sophia should be a building where only Friday prayers, Eid and, perhaps during Ramadan, tarawih prayers are performed — fulfilling its function as a place of worship symbolically, and where limited people are allowed in at once,' he says. The prayers Kaya mentions are special ones for Muslims that have a greater meaning when performed with the community. Besides all the preservation efforts over the years, it's said that the Turks came close to completely leveling Hagia Sophia. During the 1918-1922 occupation of Istanbul by the British, French, Italian and Greek armies who occupied the city after World War I after the Ottomans had sided with the losing German-led alliance — Tevfik Pasha, a Turkish elder statesman, threatened the British with destroying the building if they tried to convert it back into a church. Some stories about Hagia Sophia are obviously figments of the imagination, but even they serve a purpose. One goes that when a catastrophic earthquake in the late 500s cracked the central dome, royal advisors and the clergy told Justinian that they read the stars, checked the prophecies, and that the last messenger of God, a new prophet, had been born in Arabia. To fix the dome, they should prepare a special mortar. It should include the saliva of the young Prophet, Zamzam water ('holy' water from the Zamzam Well in Mecca), and soil from Mecca. According to the story, this 'holy mortar' mix was duly created and the cracks in the Christian church fixed. 'These legends and myths surrounding Hagia Sophia bind people to it; they reinforce the perception that this is their mosque, their temple,' says Hasan Mert Kaya. Today Hagia Sophia somehow stands in the center of a power struggle, a conflict reflected as much by the stories and legends of its past as its recent redesignation as a mosque Başkurt says, 'When we look at it from the perspective of the [sultan's] subjects, Hagia Sophia has been defined as an absolute symbol of conquest.' It is still like that in the minds of many Muslim citizens of Turkey. Today, Hagia Sophia is open to visitors like many other mosques in Istanbul, such as Sülemaniye, the Blue Mosque, and Fatih Mosque. While the 2024 introduction of a 25 euro ticket price may have raised eyebrows, 2025 saw the start of a three-year conservation project, which will restore the central dome — the most comprehensive works in nearly 1,500 years of history. The works will enhance the building's earthquake resilience while preserving the mosaics — meaning that visitors from all over the world can continue to flock to the place of 'Holy Wisdom.'
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Yahoo
Hagia Sophia: Secrets of the 1,600-year-old megastructure that has survived the collapse of empires
Editor's Note: This CNN series is, or was, sponsored by the country it highlights. CNN retains full editorial control over subject matter, reporting and frequency of the articles and videos within the sponsorship, in compliance with our policy. Whether you're a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this place of worship — which was built as a church in 537CE before its conversion into a mosque in 1453 — creates an illusion of vastness. It feels like the space starts to expand when you enter the building. Acoustic alchemy transforms visitors' murmurs into shimmering sounds, suspended weightless in the air, like echoes of a prayer in an ancient language. The art inside the building is a testament to coexistence. There is no other place on Earth where Christian mosaics of saints and Byzantine rulers are juxtaposed with Islamic calligraphy, also known as Hüsn-i Hat — large roundels displaying the names of Allah (God), the prophet Mohammed and the four caliphs, the leaders of Islam following the death of Mohammed. Today, Hagia Sophia is one of the world's most extraordinary mosques — but it's more than that. It's also a symbol, a cultural phenomenon, and a monument. Naturally, like most monumental structures, Hagia Sophia has its own mythology. Of the many stories about the building, some are true, some are exaggerations, and some are outright fantasies. The current Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century when Constantinople — as Istanbul was then called — was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire that emerged as Ancient Rome's domination dwindled and ruled swathes of Europe and northern Africa, as far away as modern-day Spain, Libya, Egypt, and Turkey, until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453. The building we see today isn't original, having been preceded by two earlier churches at the same location — which were themselves built over a pagan temple. The first was said to have been commissioned by Constantine, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity and moved the Roman Empire's center to Constantinople, ushering in the Byzantine era. Called 'Magna Ecclesia' — Latin for 'Great Church' — it was inaugurated by Constantine's son, Constantius II, in 360 CE. It was later destroyed by followers of Saint John Chrysostom, a former archbishop of Constantinople who was banished from the city. Its second iteration was inaugurated in 415 CE by the emperor Theodosius II, but was burned down again in 532 CE. The third church, today's Hagia Sophia, was built by Justinian I, an ambitious emperor who ordered its construction on 23 February 523 CE. If an anonymous historical source quoted in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' by the 20th-century historian Reşad Ekrem Koçu is to be believed, Justinian wanted his church to be larger and more ornate than Jerusalem's Temple of Solomon, the legendary resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, said to have been built in the 10th century BCE. During its five-year construction, Justinian instructed his provincial governors to send the most exquisite artifacts from ancient ruins in their territories to Constantinople for use in Hagia Sophia. This, apparently, did the job. That same anonymous source says Justinian was struck by awe when he first entered. He ran to the altar, looked up to thank God for giving him the chance to build such a wonder — and screamed, 'I surpassed you, Solomon!' It's a wonderful story — but one that historian and Hagia Sophia expert Sedat Bornovalı says is untrue. That anonymously sourced intel was written roughly 300 years after Hagia Sophia's construction. The anecdote never appears in the works of Procopius, Justinian's official historian, who also wrote a critical book about the emperor, 'Secret History.' 'If these claims were true, we would see them either in 'Buildings' or in his 'Secret History,'' says Bornovalı, who adds that Procopius would have written something stinging like, 'The presumptuous man compared himself to the prophet Solomon.' However, while his 'Secret History' shows the historian's disdain for Justinian and his wife, Procopius still writes about Hagia Sophia with admiration. unknown content item - Whatever the motivations behind it, the cost of the project and the hurry to begin the construction of what was one of the megastructures of its time also have almost mythical status. The price tag was said to be astronomical. In his book 'The Fall of the Roman Empire, A New History of Rome and the Barbarians,' historian Peter Heather said Justinian paid '15-20,000 pounds of gold.' The 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' of 1945 puts it at a more modest, but still breathtaking $75 million, equivalent to $1.3 billion today. That's more than the $1 billion cost to rebuild Notre Dame. The construction of the church started only weeks after the Nika Revolt, a devastating rebellion against Justinian that destroyed most of Constantinople, including the second Hagia Sophia. Bornovalı thinks it's possible that Justinian seized the property of his political opponents and collected a vast amount of taxes to finance the construction. 'How it was possible to create such a complex design and resolve the logistical issues within [weeks] remains among the unanswered questions,' he writes in his book, 'History's Longest Poem.' Not least because, he says, it 'would have taken years to deliver the stones and other building materials.' He thinks the budget and plans were probably ready, and Justinian took advantage of the aftermath of the Nika Revolt to start building Hagia Sophia where it is now. 'If the previous Hagia Sophia had not been destroyed, Justinian would have ordered a new version to be built elsewhere anyway,' says Bornovalı. Under the Byzantines, Hagia Sophia became the hub of Orthodox Christianity and the last standing symbol of their empire. But in 1453, when Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (a.k.a. Mehmed the Conqueror) captured Constantinople, his victory paved the way for the Ottoman Empire, which would last until 1922. To suggest to the world not only Islam's superiority but also that the Ottomans were the true heirs of the Romans, Mehmed converted Hagia Sophia to a mosque — but kept its original name. Although 'Hagia Sophia' sounds as if it was named for a Christian saint, it actually means 'Holy Wisdom' in Greek. After conquering Constantinople, the young sultan — he was only 21 — performed his first Friday prayer here, starting a tradition for all subsequent sultans of the Ottoman Empire. 'There were three steps that defined the reign of the sultans,' says Turkish historian A. Çağrı Başkurt. 'The first is to take the throne in the palace, the second is to wield a sword in Eyüp [an historic district in Istanbul], and the third is to perform the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia.' Mehmed also claimed the title 'Caesar of Rome' (Qaisar-e-Rum or Kaiser-i Rum) upon taking Constantinople. His successors continued to use the title until Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the sultanate in 1922, creating the modern state of Turkey a year later. Hagia Sofia has withstood many revolutions, occupations, riots, plunderings, and natural disasters (its construction on a base of solid rock is said to have helped it survive earthquakes). Few buildings of its age have been preserved as flawlessly and in such a complete state. The Ottoman dynasty, particularly Mehmed II, played a pivotal role in its preservation. '[Mehmed] told his army that if they conquer the city, the city is theirs for three days with the exception of Hagia Sophia,' says editor and urban researcher Hasan Mert Kaya. Koçu writes in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' that Mehmed didn't order the Christian mosaics to be covered despite the fact that Islam bans figurative art in religious contexts. However, a century later, sultan Suleiman I had them plastered over. It's thanks to the creation of the Turkish Republic created by Atatürk, a secularist, that we can see them today. In 1926, the authorities undertook a comprehensive renovation after European media claims that Hagia Sophia was in danger of collapsing. The building was closed to the public in the early 1930s for restorations, then converted into a museum in 1935 as part of a decree by Atatürk. He also commissioned the uncovering and restoration of the Byzantine mosaics. In a controversial move, in 2020, it was converted back into a mosque. The decision, involving one of the city's most important landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was criticized by international religious and political leaders, with UNESCO, the UN's cultural agency, and the pope among those voicing concern, though the move did not prompt wide opposition within Turkey. However, the second floor has been serving as a museum since 2024. Tourists can buy tickets to enter the gallery and see the prayer floor from up above. The Byzantine mosaics and images are still visible during visiting hours, and are covered with special lighting effects during worship and prayer hours. Whether Hagia Sophia should be a mosque or a museum is still debated. While some argue it should be converted back to a museum and never used for worship, others, like urban researcher Kaya, think it should stay as a place of worship — though only up to a point. 'Hagia Sophia should be a building where only Friday prayers, Eid and, perhaps during Ramadan, tarawih prayers are performed — fulfilling its function as a place of worship symbolically, and where limited people are allowed in at once,' he says. The prayers Kaya mentions are special ones for Muslims that have a greater meaning when performed with the community. Besides all the preservation efforts over the years, it's said that the Turks came close to completely leveling Hagia Sophia. During the 1918-1922 occupation of Istanbul by the British, French, Italian and Greek armies who occupied the city after World War I after the Ottomans had sided with the losing German-led alliance — Tevfik Pasha, a Turkish elder statesman, threatened the British with destroying the building if they tried to convert it back into a church. Some stories about Hagia Sophia are obviously figments of the imagination, but even they serve a purpose. One goes that when a catastrophic earthquake in the late 500s cracked the central dome, royal advisors and the clergy told Justinian that they read the stars, checked the prophecies, and that the last messenger of God, a new prophet, had been born in Arabia. To fix the dome, they should prepare a special mortar. It should include the saliva of the young Prophet, Zamzam water ('holy' water from the Zamzam Well in Mecca), and soil from Mecca. According to the story, this 'holy mortar' mix was duly created and the cracks in the Christian church fixed. 'These legends and myths surrounding Hagia Sophia bind people to it; they reinforce the perception that this is their mosque, their temple,' says Hasan Mert Kaya. Today Hagia Sophia somehow stands in the center of a power struggle, a conflict reflected as much by the stories and legends of its past as its recent redesignation as a mosque Başkurt says, 'When we look at it from the perspective of the [sultan's] subjects, Hagia Sophia has been defined as an absolute symbol of conquest.' It is still like that in the minds of many Muslim citizens of Turkey. Today, Hagia Sophia is open to visitors like many other mosques in Istanbul, such as Sülemaniye, the Blue Mosque, and Fatih Mosque. While the 2024 introduction of a 25 euro ticket price may have raised eyebrows, 2025 saw the start of a three-year conservation project, which will restore the central dome — the most comprehensive works in nearly 1,500 years of history. The works will enhance the building's earthquake resilience while preserving the mosaics — meaning that visitors from all over the world can continue to flock to the place of 'Holy Wisdom.'
CNN
28-04-2025
- CNN
Hagia Sophia: Secrets of the 1,600-year-old megastructure that has survived the collapse of empires
Whether you're a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this place of worship — which was built as a church in 537CE before its conversion into a mosque in 1453 — creates an illusion of vastness. It feels like the space starts to expand when you enter the building. Acoustic alchemy transforms visitors' murmurs into shimmering sounds, suspended weightless in the air, like echoes of a prayer in an ancient language. The art inside the building is a testament to coexistence. There is no other place on Earth where Christian mosaics of saints and Byzantine rulers are juxtaposed with Islamic calligraphy, also known as Hüsn-i Hat — large roundels displaying the names of Allah (God), the prophet Mohammed and the four caliphs, the leaders of Islam following the death of Mohammed. Today, Hagia Sophia is one of the world's most extraordinary mosques — but it's more than that. It's also a symbol, a cultural phenomenon, and a monument. Naturally, like most monumental structures, Hagia Sophia has its own mythology. Of the many stories about the building, some are true, some are exaggerations, and some are outright fantasies. The current Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century when Constantinople — as Istanbul was then called — was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire that emerged as Ancient Rome's domination dwindled and ruled swathes of Europe and northern Africa, as far away as modern-day Spain, Libya, Egypt, and Turkey, until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453. The building we see today isn't original, having been preceded by two earlier churches at the same location — which were themselves built over a pagan temple. The first was said to have been commissioned by Constantine, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity and moved the Roman Empire's center to Constantinople, ushering in the Byzantine era. Called 'Magna Ecclesia' — Latin for 'Great Church' — it was inaugurated by Constantine's son, Constantius II, in 360 CE. It was later destroyed by followers of Saint John Chrysostom, a former archbishop of Constantinople who was banished from the city. Its second iteration was inaugurated in 415 CE by the emperor Theodosius II, but was burned down again in 532 CE. The third church, today's Hagia Sophia, was built by Justinian I, an ambitious emperor who ordered its construction on 23 February 523 CE. If an anonymous historical source quoted in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' by the 20th-century historian Reşad Ekrem Koçu is to be believed, Justinian wanted his church to be larger and more ornate than Jerusalem's Temple of Solomon, the legendary resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, said to have been built in the 10th century BCE. During its five-year construction, Justinian instructed his provincial governors to send the most exquisite artifacts from ancient ruins in their territories to Constantinople for use in Hagia Sophia. This, apparently, did the job. That same anonymous source says Justinian was struck by awe when he first entered. He ran to the altar, looked up to thank God for giving him the chance to build such a wonder — and screamed, 'I surpassed you, Solomon!' It's a wonderful story — but one that historian and Hagia Sophia expert Sedat Bornovalı says is untrue. That anonymously sourced intel was written roughly 300 years after Hagia Sophia's construction. The anecdote never appears in the works of Procopius, Justinian's official historian, who also wrote a critical book about the emperor, 'Secret History.' 'If these claims were true, we would see them either in 'Buildings' or in his 'Secret History,'' says Bornovalı, who adds that Procopius would have written something stinging like, 'The presumptuous man compared himself to the prophet Solomon.' However, while his 'Secret History' shows the historian's disdain for Justinian and his wife, Procopius still writes about Hagia Sophia with admiration. Prev Next Whatever the motivations behind it, the cost of the project and the hurry to begin the construction of what was one of the megastructures of its time also have almost mythical status. The price tag was said to be astronomical. In his book 'The Fall of the Roman Empire, A New History of Rome and the Barbarians,' historian Peter Heather said Justinian paid '15-20,000 pounds of gold.' The 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' of 1945 puts it at a more modest, but still breathtaking $75 million, equivalent to $1.3 billion today. That's more than the $1 billion cost to rebuild Notre Dame. The construction of the church started only weeks after the Nika Revolt, a devastating rebellion against Justinian that destroyed most of Constantinople, including the second Hagia Sophia. Bornovalı thinks it's possible that Justinian seized the property of his political opponents and collected a vast amount of taxes to finance the construction. 'How it was possible to create such a complex design and resolve the logistical issues within [weeks] remains among the unanswered questions,' he writes in his book, 'History's Longest Poem.' Not least because, he says, it 'would have taken years to deliver the stones and other building materials.' He thinks the budget and plans were probably ready, and Justinian took advantage of the aftermath of the Nika Revolt to start building Hagia Sophia where it is now. 'If the previous Hagia Sophia had not been destroyed, Justinian would have ordered a new version to be built elsewhere anyway,' says Bornovalı. Under the Byzantines, Hagia Sophia became the hub of Orthodox Christianity and the last standing symbol of their empire. But in 1453, when Ottoman sultan Mehmed II (a.k.a. Mehmed the Conqueror) captured Constantinople, his victory paved the way for the Ottoman Empire, which would last until 1922. To suggest to the world not only Islam's superiority but also that the Ottomans were the true heirs of the Romans, Mehmed converted Hagia Sophia to a mosque — but kept its original name. Although 'Hagia Sophia' sounds as if it was named for a Christian saint, it actually means 'Holy Wisdom' in Greek. After conquering Constantinople, the young sultan — he was only 21 — performed his first Friday prayer here, starting a tradition for all subsequent sultans of the Ottoman Empire. 'There were three steps that defined the reign of the sultans,' says Turkish historian A. Çağrı Başkurt. 'The first is to take the throne in the palace, the second is to wield a sword in Eyüp [an historic district in Istanbul], and the third is to perform the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia.' Mehmed also claimed the title 'Caesar of Rome' (Qaisar-e-Rum or Kaiser-i Rum) upon taking Constantinople. His successors continued to use the title until Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the sultanate in 1922, creating the modern state of Turkey a year later. Hagia Sofia has withstood many revolutions, occupations, riots, plunderings, and natural disasters (its construction on a base of solid rock is said to have helped it survive earthquakes). Few buildings of its age have been preserved as flawlessly and in such a complete state. The Ottoman dynasty, particularly Mehmed II, played a pivotal role in its preservation. '[Mehmed] told his army that if they conquer the city, the city is theirs for three days with the exception of Hagia Sophia,' says editor and urban researcher Hasan Mert Kaya. Koçu writes in the 'Istanbul Encyclopedia' that Mehmed didn't order the Christian mosaics to be covered despite the fact that Islam bans figurative art in religious contexts. However, a century later, sultan Suleiman I had them plastered over. It's thanks to the creation of the Turkish Republic created by Atatürk, a secularist, that we can see them today. In 1926, the authorities undertook a comprehensive renovation after European media claims that Hagia Sophia was in danger of collapsing. The building was closed to the public in the early 1930s for restorations, then converted into a museum in 1935 as part of a decree by Atatürk. He also commissioned the uncovering and restoration of the Byzantine mosaics. In a controversial move, in 2020, it was converted back into a mosque. The decision, involving one of the city's most important landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was criticized by international religious and political leaders, with UNESCO, the UN's cultural agency, and the pope among those voicing concern, though the move did not prompt wide opposition within Turkey. However, the second floor has been serving as a museum since 2024. Tourists can buy tickets to enter the gallery and see the prayer floor from up above. The Byzantine mosaics and images are still visible during visiting hours, and are covered with special lighting effects during worship and prayer hours. Whether Hagia Sophia should be a mosque or a museum is still debated. While some argue it should be converted back to a museum and never used for worship, others, like urban researcher Kaya, think it should stay as a place of worship — though only up to a point. 'Hagia Sophia should be a building where only Friday prayers, Eid and, perhaps during Ramadan, tarawih prayers are performed — fulfilling its function as a place of worship symbolically, and where limited people are allowed in at once,' he says. The prayers Kaya mentions are special ones for Muslims that have a greater meaning when performed with the community. Besides all the preservation efforts over the years, it's said that the Turks came close to completely leveling Hagia Sophia. During the 1918-1922 occupation of Istanbul by the British, French, Italian and Greek armies who occupied the city after World War I after the Ottomans had sided with the losing German-led alliance — Tevfik Pasha, a Turkish elder statesman, threatened the British with destroying the building if they tried to convert it back into a church. Some stories about Hagia Sophia are obviously figments of the imagination, but even they serve a purpose. One goes that when a catastrophic earthquake in the late 500s cracked the central dome, royal advisors and the clergy told Justinian that they read the stars, checked the prophecies, and that the last messenger of God, a new prophet, had been born in Arabia. To fix the dome, they should prepare a special mortar. It should include the saliva of the young Prophet, Zamzam water ('holy' water from the Zamzam Well in Mecca), and soil from Mecca. According to the story, this 'holy mortar' mix was duly created and the cracks in the Christian church fixed. 'These legends and myths surrounding Hagia Sophia bind people to it; they reinforce the perception that this is their mosque, their temple,' says Hasan Mert Kaya. Today Hagia Sophia somehow stands in the center of a power struggle, a conflict reflected as much by the stories and legends of its past as its recent redesignation as a mosque Başkurt says, 'When we look at it from the perspective of the [sultan's] subjects, Hagia Sophia has been defined as an absolute symbol of conquest.' It is still like that in the minds of many Muslim citizens of Turkey. Today, Hagia Sophia is open to visitors like many other mosques in Istanbul, such as Sülemaniye, the Blue Mosque, and Fatih Mosque. While the 2024 introduction of a 25 euro ticket price may have raised eyebrows, 2025 saw the start of a three-year conservation project, which will restore the central dome — the most comprehensive works in nearly 1,500 years of history. The works will enhance the building's earthquake resilience while preserving the mosaics — meaning that visitors from all over the world can continue to flock to the place of 'Holy Wisdom.'
Chicago Tribune
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: Baseball is back. Opening day brings back so many memories.
Baseball is back this week; it's summertime's second greatest diversion next to the cooking of weenies on an open fire. It's also the first blush of spring even if the game time temperature is close to freezing. And who can resist attending opening day? It brings back so many pleasant memories regardless of the final score. Half the fun of going to the first game of the season at Wrigley Field is the struggle to secure a parking spot. The next trick is staying warm while avoiding an overserved fan from falling asleep on your shoulder. But hey, it's baseball in Chicago, and who'd want it any other way? What's more: A victory just might mean an undefeated season is a very real possibility. — Bob Ory, Elgin Family-friendly games Baseball is back. It's a great time of the year. Financially, the owners are doing well. It's time to make games available for a family outing. The Cubs and White Sox should lead the way. Center this concept on the number three. For baseball, let's call it the Triple Play Value Package: a hot dog, soft drink and box of popcorn for $6, sales tax included. Other Chicago owners should do the same when their seasons begins: Bears, Field Goal Value Package; Bulls and Sky, 3-Point Value Package; and Blackhawks, Hat Trick Value Package. How about a Drop Goal Value Package for rugby? Soccer could call it the Left Half-Back Value Package. I give baseball teams the option of calling this the Babe Ruth Value Package, as Ruth wore No. 3 and was a huge fan of eating hot dogs. Let's go, Cubs. — Mark Renz, Oak Lawn Still magical to many Spring has sprung, which can mean only one thing: a new season of baseball. Baseball is still magical to many, as it is the game that many played in their innocent youth. Now that they are adults and have work and family obligations, they can watch a game on TV and forget their troubles (an ode to sportscaster Jack Brickhouse). Watching or playing baseball is an escape from problems and where men can still be boys. At games, a person can make new friends and enhance old friendships, while forgetting social graces that they are expected to abide by at work or home. Another reason that baseball is a game that matters are numbers. True baseball fans should easily recognize what these numbers represent: 56, 60, 61, 73, 121, 300, 406, 500, 762 and 3,000. Let's add these numbers for Chicagoans: 2005 and 2016. Anthropology is the study of the origin, culture and development of humans. Baseball definitely falls into this science, as a baseball fan can recount what happened in a bygone season and an individual's career. A new season starts fresh with everyone in first place, but all good things must come to an end. A new year may bring additional new numbers and memories. — Cary Riske, Grayslake Adapting to road use Every time I drive to the store to pick up groceries for my family or head to Springfield for a legislative session, I am reminded of how important it is to have dedicated funds to maintain our roadways. Rolling over a pothole is an experience every driver wants to avoid. Illinoisans illustrated they feel the same way at the ballot box. In 2016, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment, the Safe Roads Amendment, which protects funds generated from transportation-related revenue from being spent on anything other than transportation-related purposes. With that important safeguard and the fact that current transportation-related revenues that fund the projects that maintain our roadways continue to decline, we need to adapt the way these are collected. Approximately 20 states have recognized the need to explore alternative ways to fund roads and highways that meet the demand of their users. We have the chance to do the same — to start discussions, reevaluate our current systems and see if we are still meeting the needs of our communities — and not just stick with the status quo. Now I'm not averse to opposition. It comes with the office. But when I introduced Senate Bill 1938, which includes the Road Usage Charge Pilot Program, as a way to explore how a mileage-based fee would work for Illinois, news outlets unloaded their full fury. What's so dangerous about a discussion? Following this voluntary study, the General Assembly would receive information about the cost of the program, privacy concerns and protections, as well as the feasibility of permanently assessing a road usage charge. Knowing what works for our drivers, roads and highways is vital, and this voluntary study would provide us with the information we need as legislators to make this decision. This measure does not impose a new tax on Illinoisans but rather allows Illinoisans to voluntarily participate in a road usage charge system to see how this would help maintain and improve our roadways. Exploring, discussing and evaluating what would keep our residents safe is an integral part of being a legislator. That's why I am sponsoring Senate Bill 1938 — so my colleagues and I would have the data we need to determine how we can fund improvements to our roads and highways in a way that reflects how we use them today. So, tell me: What's the harm in that? — State Sen. Ram Villivalam, 8th District U. of C.'s debt load In the midteens, I watched the University of Chicago's financial decline that snowballed into the $288 million deficit in 2024. I remember the poor decisions that led to student and faculty protests over overspending on buildings and pet projects. One example: In 2013, in the post-recession, the University of Chicago deliberately increased its debt while peer institutions, including Harvard, lowered theirs. S&P reported that this could result in the U. of C. having to borrow as much as $500 million in 2018. Moody's and S&P lowered their outlook on the university's debt to negative in 2013. Being in the red resulted in mandatory budget cuts of up to 8% in academic units. It was a frightening time to work at the university. People were scared they would lose their jobs and afraid to take time off. The process seemed opaque. Needless to say, morale was awful. That was 10 years ago. I can only hope that someone rights the ship of this still-great university. — Phyllis Brust, Gainesville, Florida Transparency for city I applaud and support Daniel Boland's recent letter ('Chicago needs a charter,' March 23, 2025). Boland states that a comprehensive charter is needed to address Chicago's continuing climate of political corruption. He also advocates reducing the number of alderman from 50 to 25, which he opines will guard against the establishment of political fiefdoms. In this regard, I would add that such a reduction would lower municipal expenses, lessen taxpayers' burdens and thus serve the public interest. He further advocates curbing mayoral influence by explicitly requiring City Council consent for appointees and debt servicing. Such oversight is critical today, particularly given that our current mayor is aligned with and beholden to the Chicago Teachers Union, a conflict of interest. Chicagoans need a charter to ensure that city government is transparent and is responsive to and represents their needs. As Boland concludes: 'The time for reform is now!' I heartily concur.
