The Beautiful and Sad Hagia Sophia
2022.05.12
This church (AD 537) turned mosque (1453) turned museum (1935) turned mosque again (2020) is full of both beauty and contradiction. She was built as a Christian church of Holy Wisdom, but her current name is Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. Mosaics of Jesus Christ adorn her walls, but she is used unto the worship of Allah. Her architecture was commissioned by a Christian emperor, but her domes inspired every subsequent mosque after 1453. She is both glorious and yet dilapidated, restored yet crumbling, full of people yet devoid of souls. Her past is confused and divided; her present beautiful and sad; her future completely unknown. Someone called our experience of the building “beautiful and sad.” I think that’s an apt description, for all of the reasons above and more.
Yet, we Christians have a much better hope. No building could truly be the Holy Wisdom, for Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God, Wisdom incarnate, who died and rose for the forgiveness of sins. He will never crumble nor fall, nor need renovation or rehabilitation. He is Christ the Almighty, the Creator and King over all. And He will reign forever.
