Day 2: Sacred spaces and power through Istanbul

Neil P

Merhaba! As the Türkiye travelers round out their second day in Istanbul, we reflect upon a day full of mosque exploration and dynamics of power that have taken the reigns of this beautiful city, much like the stormy weather did just today. 

As you would expect, rain has a powerful way of slowing a city down, but speeding us up. On this particularly rainy day, our group moved through Istanbul visiting mosques, museums and walls that have shaped the city for centuries. As we navigated through different neighborhoods today in Istanbul, the city breathed with life, surrounding you with traffic, consistent honks, and crowds. However, upon removing your shoes and stepping just one foot inside these spaces, there was an atmospheric shift: calm, order, intentionality, and articulation flooded your senses. What struck me most was how religious architecture in Istanbul does far more than just house a sense of belief. These curated spaces actively shape how people gather, how power is expressed, and how communities begin to understand their place within something that is larger than themselves.

This morning, we started off our day with a hotel-provided Turkish breakfast. Coffees, teas, juices, greens, pastries; if you name it they had it. We quickly wrapped up our breakfasts and ran out the door, rain jackets in hand, for our first destination of the day. This coach ride was the group’s first exploring outside the boundaries of the neighborhood that our hotel is situated in. 

Arriving to a different part of the bustling city via coach, we stepped off the bus to head towards the Süleymaniye Mosque. 

The Süleymaniye Mosque is a perfect exemplification of a balance between that historical authority and spiritual humility. Designed by Sinan, often referred to as the father of Turkish architecture, the mosque was built not simply to impress in-fact it was built much more intentionally to serve. With the ability to hold thousands of people, both inside and in its courtyard, this mosque reinforces with every step you take that the idea that communal prayer and group belonging is central to Islamic practice. Our removal of shoes before entering is not only about keeping a physical cleanliness but also mental preparation, as pointed out by our guide Saba, Priyal and Sammy. It is a ritual that encourages humility, even bringing new shoes to the mosque can be frowned upon. The act of sujūd or sajdah, on the ornate carpeted floor, kneeling with one’s forehead touching the ground, physically acts as a display of obedience and faith in this specific posture, creating an equality under God.

In general, we learned that the construction of mosques reflects this mirrored sense of humility as well. Mosques, typically their carpets, are intentionally created with imperfections, based on the belief that God is the only perfect being. Sinan’s architectural philosophy reflects this same humility as well; the Süleymaniye Mosque‘s massive dome carries a symbolic meaning, gathering everyone beneath a single structure, visually and spatially reinforcing the idea of one God over all. Yet, Süleymaniye is loudly political. Commissioned by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Ottoman sultan, this mosque stands to this day as a monument to an empire built nearly 470 years ago through conquest and wealth. Its earthquake-resistant minarets, via a water suspension system, and foundations deeper than the height of the building demonstrate technical mastery and methodical planning, but also suggest permanence and stability. Permanence and stability are key messages for imperial power. The Süleymaniye Mosque thrives as a space where authority and devotion coexist rather than compete, all while you try to pick your jaw up from the floor as you rotate in circles taking in your surroundings.

This relationship between power and belief appears a little differently at the Chora Mosque, which was originally built as a Christian church. Unlike the restrained interior of many mosques (this mosque has a very contained space for prayer separate from the artworks described), the Chora Mosque is filled with mosaics and frescoes that create an overwhelming visual experience, with stories to tell with every step. These artworks were not merely decorative but rather usefully communicative. Images and visuals were able to reach a larger audience, integrating those who were not as literate as others, but still engaging those who were literate by creating a strong story-telling force with the spoken word. A lot of the art pieces we saw followed the life of the Virgin Mary who holds deep significance in Constantinople. Chora shows vividly, ornately, and animatedly that art is a form of theology and process, it’s accessible, interpretive, and immersive. What fascinated me most about Chora was how it was able to span across multiple timelines at once. Converted into a mosque decades after the Ottoman conquest (1511), the building still carries its Christian visual language. Relics and images act as portals moving you to different timelines, connecting us to saints, narratives, and moments from before we could imagine. 

If Süleymaniye and Chora show how belief is expressed within interior walls, the Theodosian Walls we saw next revealed how space is used to control what lies beyond them. These massive barriers once drew the boundary between civilization as it was known inside the walls and the outside world, where Chora once resided, prior to an expansion. Gates like the Golden Gate were ceremonial (and helped us keep dry), reserved for emperors, while towers doubled as prisons and symbols of authority (where we hid out as lightning crashed on the coast). We discussed in the dungeon with Dr. Carignan and Dr. Huber that walls are never really neutral. They regulated movement, enforce hierarchy and class, and projected power, while serving the obvious theme of a safety device. 

The Blue Mosque (which can be seen from the interior of the Hagia Sophia) offers another perspective on how architecture communicates authority. Built in the 17th century by a student of Sinan, it embraces opulence and luxury exponentially more openly than the Süleymaniye Mosque. Its six minarets, massive “elephant foot” pillars, and over 21,000 Iznik tiles create a space that was designed to awe. The opulence was loud, but serves as a pull factor even today for people to come and see these works, with the Blue Mosque being the busiest we’ve visited thus far. The Iznik tiles themselves tell a story of exclusivity, as they once were reserved for royalty. They were symbols of wealth and power as much as beauty. Even today, their value serves as an example of how physical media and culture can elevate religious spaces into statements of prestige, which can ultimately draw away from the humility and peace we spent the morning talking about.

Moving through these spaces in a city of 16 million where mosques, and walls coexist alongside traffic jams and the victorious Starbucks chain, made it clear that sacred architecture in Istanbul is not frozen in the past. These buildings continue to shape how people move, gather, and understand or even find themselves within history. They remind us that religion is not only practiced through belief, but through a physical space.

For now though, the plan is simple: dry the rain jacket, save the sneakers, and make sure my phone has enough space for another day of photos. If this was day two, day three can’t come soon enough. See you guys soon!