We had a lazy morning and didn't meet our expert guide, Evren Bozan, guide until 1:00 pm. We decided to leave Mary behind today. She wanted to wash her hair and she a bit of a bad tummy earlier. She is absolutely fine now, so I suspect her system was not used to something she ate. She seems 100% now.
We actually met Karen from Sea Song, our local tourist company. We told her how much we are enjoying everything she has put together for us! Her guide choices have been the best! All of our guides have been outstanding! Each one is so knowledgeable and explains history to us so well! Thank you to ALL our excellent guides!
Bill, Trey and I then had a quick round trip journey from Europe to Asia and back! We drove over the very long bridge from the European side to,the Asian side where we could view the wider streets, newer residences and much lusher vegetation. We did take a photo of a Sultans Palce (the Giragan Palace) which is now part of the Kapinski Hotel chain. This was interesting to us, because in 1910, there was a fire at the Palace. Bill's grandfather was stationed here at the time and his ship and men helped fight the fire at the Sultan's Palace. The Sultan awarded Captain Isaac Dortch (Mary's father) a medal for helping put out the fire! It is the building with the green roof on the left side in the photo below.
After this, we made our way to the Museum of Chora. The original church existed from the 4th or 6th century (there is a disagreement among historians which century is correct). However, inside this small church, there are amazing mosaics that were done in the 1300's. The mosaics are in marvelous shape and detail the story of the Virgin Mary's parents and the story of her life.
Mary's father was named Joachim and her mother was Ann. Joachim was not allowed in the Temple because he had no child with his wife, Ann. He went into the mountains and prayed to God for a child. His wife then becomes pregnant with the Virgin Mary. Joachim promised that he would leave his child in the temple if he had one. Thus, when Mary was very young, he presented her to the high priest, Zachariah, at the Temple. Mary was a good and faithful servant, as well as a beautiful young woman. Zachariah was in charge of deciding who her husband would be. He put out a call for the bachelors and many applied to be Mary's husband. There were so many that he collected the staffs of the men, placed them on an alter and prayed to God to give him a sign of who he should chose to be Mary's husband. The next day, one of the staffs had green leaves growing from it - a sign from God. Zachariah held up the staff and asked who owned that staff, and of course it was Joseph. 
Mary's family tree surrounds her on the mosaic dome of this ceiling in the church.
Joachim praying for a child in the bushes.
Celebrating with his wife, Ann, who is pregnant with Mary.
Ann giving birth to the Virgin Mary.
Mary is born..
Ann and Joachim celebrating the birth of their child.
Presenting the very young Mary to Zachariah at the Temple.
Joseph claiming his staff that was the miracle of leaves springing from it as a sign God has chosen him to be Mary's husband.
Joseph leaves his wife to go conduct business. He is gone 6 months. When he returns, Mary is pregnant with the Son of God. He is angry and confused at first, but an Angel comes to Joseph and says yes, truly Mary will have a child who is the son of God.
Mary and Joseph must travel to Bethlehem for the census.
The birth of Jesus.
The three Magi who followed the star to the birthplace of the Son of God.
There are many mosaics of the miracles performed by Christ.
This church fell under Muslim control for a short while and because no images are allowed in a Mosque, they covered the Mosaics with wood or tapestries. The Church was later restored by Theodore Metochites who accumulated great wealth as the Treasurer of the City during the Byzantine period. When he eventually ran out of money for the Mosaics, he used plaster, that when wet, would have the different colors infused into it so that the paint was deeply absorbed by the plaster which has allowed it be so well preserved.
This is one of the well preserved frescoes showing Christ after his resurrection pulling Adam and Eve from hell.
Karen called me after meeting the three of you. She was overwhelmed with your kind words. Did you have the opportunity to see any of the gardens on the Asia side?
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing story about Mary's dad. I stayed at the Kempinski Ciragan Palace - I wish I had known that history he helped save. What no trip to the market yet?
Last day tomorrow - oh how busy you will be....