DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29899#0577
Bk. I. Ch. IV.
CONSTÀNTINOPLE.
557
the foundation of St. Peter’s at Rome had already been laid. The
old principles of art were already losing their hold on the architects
of Europe, a revolution was taking place, and though this would
hardly be much felt so far east as the Bosphorus, or materially
influence strangers like the Turks, still it must have had some
influence, and modified their style to some extent. Be this as it
may, we are struck at Constantinople with the same phenomenon
which meets us everywhere in the Mahomedan world. Wherever
the various nationalities settled who had embraced that faith, they
at once adopted the architectural forms of their new country, and
set to work to mould and modify them, so as to bring them more
into conformity with their special requirements. Nowhere do they
seem to have brought their style with them, or thought of forcing
that on their new subjects. In this they were wise ; and it is what
probably all nations would do who had any true knowledge of art,
or any true feeling for its purposes. In nine cases out of.ten the
original people of a country find out the arrangements most suited
to their climate, and the forms of construction best adapted to the
materials which are available ; and to attempt to substitute for these,
forms suited to other climates and another class of materials, is what
only an Aryan would think of doing. The Turks, though barbarous,
belonged to one of the great building races of the world ; and so soon
as they entered Constantinople, set to work vigorously to vindicate
the characteristics of the family.
Besides appropriating seven or eight of the principal churches of
the city—'With Sta. Sophia at the head of the list—to the new worship,
Mahomet II. founded six or seven new mosques, some of them of great
magnificence. The chief of these is that which still bears his name,
and crowns the highest of the seven hills on which the city stands.
To make way for it, he pulled down the Church of the Apostles, which
had been the burying-place of the Christian emperors apparently since
the time of Constantine, and was consequently an edifice of consider-
able magnificence. It had, however, been plundered by the Latin
barbarians who sacked the city some time before the Moslems, and
it was also so crippled by earthquakes as to be in a dangerous state.
In order to effect his purpose, Mahomet employed Christodulos, a
Chiûstian resident in Constantinople, to erect on the spot a mosque,
which he intended should surpass all others in his empire. How
far he was successful we have now little means of judging. An
earthquake in 1763 so completely ruined this inosque that the repairs
amounted almost to a rebuilding ; and as these were carried out with
the quasi-Italian details of the latter half of the 18th century, its
present appearance probably conveys very little idea either of the form
or of the magnificence of the original building. Enough of its form,
however, still remains to tell us that, like all Turkish mosques, it
CONSTÀNTINOPLE.
557
the foundation of St. Peter’s at Rome had already been laid. The
old principles of art were already losing their hold on the architects
of Europe, a revolution was taking place, and though this would
hardly be much felt so far east as the Bosphorus, or materially
influence strangers like the Turks, still it must have had some
influence, and modified their style to some extent. Be this as it
may, we are struck at Constantinople with the same phenomenon
which meets us everywhere in the Mahomedan world. Wherever
the various nationalities settled who had embraced that faith, they
at once adopted the architectural forms of their new country, and
set to work to mould and modify them, so as to bring them more
into conformity with their special requirements. Nowhere do they
seem to have brought their style with them, or thought of forcing
that on their new subjects. In this they were wise ; and it is what
probably all nations would do who had any true knowledge of art,
or any true feeling for its purposes. In nine cases out of.ten the
original people of a country find out the arrangements most suited
to their climate, and the forms of construction best adapted to the
materials which are available ; and to attempt to substitute for these,
forms suited to other climates and another class of materials, is what
only an Aryan would think of doing. The Turks, though barbarous,
belonged to one of the great building races of the world ; and so soon
as they entered Constantinople, set to work vigorously to vindicate
the characteristics of the family.
Besides appropriating seven or eight of the principal churches of
the city—'With Sta. Sophia at the head of the list—to the new worship,
Mahomet II. founded six or seven new mosques, some of them of great
magnificence. The chief of these is that which still bears his name,
and crowns the highest of the seven hills on which the city stands.
To make way for it, he pulled down the Church of the Apostles, which
had been the burying-place of the Christian emperors apparently since
the time of Constantine, and was consequently an edifice of consider-
able magnificence. It had, however, been plundered by the Latin
barbarians who sacked the city some time before the Moslems, and
it was also so crippled by earthquakes as to be in a dangerous state.
In order to effect his purpose, Mahomet employed Christodulos, a
Chiûstian resident in Constantinople, to erect on the spot a mosque,
which he intended should surpass all others in his empire. How
far he was successful we have now little means of judging. An
earthquake in 1763 so completely ruined this inosque that the repairs
amounted almost to a rebuilding ; and as these were carried out with
the quasi-Italian details of the latter half of the 18th century, its
present appearance probably conveys very little idea either of the form
or of the magnificence of the original building. Enough of its form,
however, still remains to tell us that, like all Turkish mosques, it