Tag Archives: Church

St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta

Like many of Europe’s medieval cities, Malta’s capital Valletta is fairly compact and surrounded by walls. Unlike most of the other cities which retain their walls e.g. York, Bruges, Tallinn, here the walls are not surrounded by modern city, because on three sides Valletta’s walls are bounded by the sea.

Valletta’s southern walls meet the sea

The Knights Hospitaller, or Order of St John, was formed in the 11th century as a Christian military order. In 1530 they established themselves on Malta and ruled the island nation for 268 years until it was taken by Napoleon. In the centre of their fortified capital the Knights built St John’s Co-Cathedral, dedicated to the patron saint of their order. It is called Co-Cathedral as it has equal status on the island with St Paul’s Cathedral in the inland fortified city of Mdina, the seat of the Bishop of Malta, although this wasn’t the case until the 1820s.

The exterior of St John’s Co-Cathedral is rather plain and currently undergoing restoration

Inside, the cathedral is pretty much the exact opposite of its austere exterior and it seems that every surface is covered with some form of decoration. Whether painted, gilded, carved or inlaid it’s quite an assault on the eyes. The nave is barrel vaulted and each of the six ceiling bays contains three scenes from the life of St John painted by Mattia Preti, unusually using oil based paints directly on the stone.

The spectacular nave with its painted ceiling

The High Altar is even more extravagant than the rest of the interior adorned with various gifts from Grand Masters and high-ranking knights who seem to have been trying to outdo each other by contributing rare marbles and exquisite carvings. The huge Sanctuary lamp hanging at the front of the space is made of solid silver!

The High Altar is the centrepiece of the interior

Along each side of the nave are eight equally elaborately decorated chapels. The Knights were gathered from all across Europe and each of these chapels is dedicated to one of the ‘langues’ or places of origin. It was interesting to try to spot the details which tied the chapels back to the original country, for example, the double headed eagle emblem in the German chapel, or the fleur-de-lys in the French one.

Chapel of Aragon; we weren’t sure exactly where Aragon was and were interested to find that it is an autonomous community in northern Spain

Each chapel has its own altar along with magnificent marble tombs of the langue’s distinguished knights.

Chapel details (clockwise from top left): tomb in the French Chapel; even the ‘plain’ walls are covered with gilded carvings; altar in the Italian Chapel; Spanish Chapel altarpiece

Of all the Cathedral’s magnificence, for us the highlight was definitely the floor. It’s completely made up of gravestones, and not just normal grey gravestones with carved inscriptions, these are brightly coloured pictures often containing crests, weaponry and skeletons as well as an inscription, all made up of inlaid marble in an amazing variety of colours.

Inlaid marble gravestones cover the floor of St John’s Co-Cathedral

The audio guide route ends with the cathedral’s museum. In the first room of which, the Oratory, are two paintings by Caravaggio. Caravaggio seems to have been quite a troubled figure, he was quite famous in Rome during his lifetime but was forced to flee after killing a man in a brawl. Arriving in Malta he became a knight and carried out several commissions on the island before landing in prison again, this time for injuring a fellow knight in a fight. The two works in the Oratory are dramatic and show his innovative use of light to illuminate the central figures while leaving much of the scene in darkness.

‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ by Caravaggio [photo credit: St John’s Co-Cathedral]

The rest of the museum is devoted to the set of enormous 17th century Flemish tapestries which are hung in the nave for special occasions (e.g. when the Pope visited), several beautiful illuminated choral books, various items of ecclesiastical clothing and a few paintings.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the cathedral and trying to take in all of the artwork and spot details (like an elephant on one of the gravestones). In contrast, we saw several groups from the cruise ships which dock in Malta being led in by their guide, doing a quick circuit around the nave and exiting through the gift shop. It seems a shame that they miss out on so much of this showcase of the Knights’ splendour.

Haghia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern

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As we knew Julie’s sister and family were coming out to join us, we held off visiting two of the best and most exciting sites in Istanbul so we could experience them with Steph, Tom and two-year-old son Oliver.

Haghia Sophia

Haghia Sophia – built as an orthodox cathedral in 537, had a brief 57 year stint as a roman catholic church starting in 1204, converted to a mosque in 1453 and finally a museum in 1935

Nearly 1500 years old, Haghia Sophia has seen the pinnacle of the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, held the title of the largest cathedral in the world for a thousand years, and has dominated the Istanbul skyline of the First Hill since it was completed in 537.

The present Haghia Sophia is the 3rd church of that name to have been built on the site, the first two burnt down during separate riots; the first one in 404, and the second in 532. This 3rd one, completed in 537 was rebuilt on the order of Justinian, who envisioned it on an even grander scale than those before.

Haghia Sophia was an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, except for a brief period between 1204 and 1261 when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. When Sultan Mehmet II took Constantinople in 1453 he converted it to a mosque, and in 1931 the doors closed for worship, opening 4 years later in as a museum in 1935.

The entrance walks you past excavated remains of the previous structure on this site – the Theodosian Haghia Sophia built in the 5th century which burnt down during the Nika Revolt in AD 532

Haghia Sophia is a massive building that, when we first saw it, we wondered what all the fuss was about because, well, I’ll just say it; it’s not very attractive to look at. The intricate dome looks like it has been dropped on some hulking, unfinished, fortress-like structure. It’s only when we learnt that the unsightly rose coloured buttresses were added in 1317 to prevent the weight of the dome from pushing the walls out and causing the whole thing to collapse, that we could start to see the building without its protective concrete corset.

The entrance to Haghia Sophia is through one of the 5 western doors into the exonarthex. The massive central largest door on the left was known as Orea Porta or the Beautiful Gate and was reserved for the Emperor

The entrance to Haghia Sophia is through one of the 5 western doors into the exonarthex. The massive central door on the left was known as Orea Porta or the Beautiful Gate and was reserved for the Emperor

There are two narrow narthexes (or porches) which mark the entrance to the Haghia Sophia. The first one is quite plain and giant posters give an extremely brief summary of the building’s history, though one of them does show a nice illustration of ‘Constantinopolis’ when the Hippodrome still existed.

This exonarthex also has a few artefacts on display such as a large bronze Christian bell and a sarcophagus believed to belong to Empress Eirene, wife of Emperor John II (r. 1118 to 1143).

Our favourite of the displays in the exonarthex, an illustration of Constantinopolis that shows Haghia Sophia as a Christian church, the Hippodrome and the aquaduct surrounded by the Theodosian walls; and the bronze bell with Greek inscriptions and Christian crosses

Our favourite of the displays in the exonarthex, an illustration of Constantinopolis that shows Haghia Sophia in its original Orthodox Christian church for (bottom centre), the Hippodrome and the aqueduct, and the city surrounded by the Theodosian walls; the bronze bell with Greek inscriptions and Christian crosses

From the exonarthex we passed through the Emperor’s Beautiful Gate and into the narthex, which gave us the best impression of what the newly completed Haghia Sophia would have looked like – according to records, the ceiling of the entire church was covered in gold mosaic tiles and geometric and floral designs, an area of more than 4 square acres – that’s over 16,000m² or about 2½ football pitches!

This amazing ceiling was rediscovered in 1933. When it was converted to a mosque the mosaics were plastered over – thank goodness they weren’t destroyed

At the end of the narthex is a small corridor known in Byzantine times as the Vestibule of Warriors which is now the public exit, and hung above the bronze-clad doors is a giant mirror so you don’t miss another golden mosaic they found under the plaster and whitewash in 1933..

Mosaic of the Mother of God holding the Christ Child and flanked by Constantine the Great on the left offering a model of Constantinople, and Justinian on the right offering a model Haghia Sophia

Mosaic of the Mother of God holding the Christ Child and flanked by Constantine the Great on the right offering a model of Constantinople, and Justinian on the left offering a model Haghia Sophia

We backtracked into the narthex and stepped through the Imperial Gate into the vast open nave..

Julie standing in the Imperial Gate – the Emperor’s door from the narthex into the nave of church. Just how big were these Emperors?!

To borrow our word from Uzbekistan.. Wow.

Wow. Standing in the nave is to be dwarfed by the sheer scale of the space and mighty 31.24 diameter dome whose crown is 56 metres from the floor - that's a 15 storey building!

Wow. Standing in the nave is to be dwarfed by the sheer scale of the space and the mighty dome

Even the size of the Emperor’s gates just didn’t prepare us for the sheer scale and architectural achievement of Haghia Sophia. The effect is a huge, almost square open space uncluttered by supporting columns, that stretches so high that the size of the dome is nearly lost as an optical illusion. The crown of the dome is 56 metres from the floor – the equivalent of a 15 storey building!!

The dominating dome of Haghia Sophia

We took our time to explore this resplendent, religiously repurposed super-structure. The Islamic adornments seemed both at home with their extravagant design, but at the same time looked temporary, a bit like birthday party decorations. I guess that’s because the restoration has uncovered the Christian mosaics which makes the museum theologically schizophrenic.

In the nave we loved the mighty marble supporting columns so cleverly engineered to maximise the space which make the dome appear almost unsupported. Also the two lustration (ritual purification) urns either side of the entrance that are hewn from single blocks of marble.

One o f the two huge marble lustration (ritual purification) urns that were brought from Pergamon during the reign of Sultan Murad III (r. 1574 to 1595)

One of the two huge marble lustration urns that were brought from Pergamon during the reign of Sultan Murad III (r. 1574 to 1595)

After turning our thumb through 360° in the hole on the weeping column which is believed to cure many illnesses, we headed upstairs to the galleries. A few more golden mosaics have been rediscovered along the galleries, but we liked the Marble Door, and the view past the türbes outside to Sultan Ahmet Camii or The Blue Mosque

The Marble Door. We’re not sure if the name comes from the door in the middle, or that either side are double-doors representing Heaven and Hell

Sultan Ahmet Camii (The Blue Mosque) in the background, past the domes of 3 of the Turbes in the grounds of Haghia Sophia

Sultan Ahmet Camii (The Blue Mosque) in the background, past the domes of 3 of the türbes in the grounds of Haghia Sophia

Despite the lacklustre first impression, we really enjoyed exploring the expansive Haghia Sophia. Describing it as a museum doesn’t really set the right expectations either, as there isn’t a lot of information about it inside – this is one of those places that the more you read about it the more impressive it becomes, and the more you understand the reverence in which it is held.

Basilica Cistern

The Basilica Cistern, 9,800m² in size, can hold 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water, and was forgotten for nearly a hundred years!

When we were researching what to see and do in Istanbul, we read the almost incredulous story of the rediscovery of the Basilica Cistern. To quote our guidebook..

The structure was known in Byzantium as the Basilica Cistern because is lay underneath the Stoa Basilica, the second of the two great squares on the First Hill. The Basilica Cistern was built by Justinian after the Nika Revolt in 532, possibly as an enlargement of an earlier cistern of Constantine. Throughout the Byzantine period the Basilica Cistern was used to store water for the Great Palace and the other buildings on the First Hill, and after the Conquest its waters were used for the gardens of Topkai Sarayi. Nevertheless, general knowledge of the cistern’s existence seems to have been lost in the century after the Conquest, and it was not rediscovered until 1546. In that year Petrus Gyllius, while engaged in his study of the surviving Byzantine antiquities in the city, learned that the people in this neighbourhood obtained water by lowering buckets through holes in their basement floors’ some even cause fish from there. Gyllius made a through search through the neighbourhood and finally found a house through whose basement he could go down into the cistern, probably at the spot where the modern entrance is located. – Strolling Through Istanbul (p135)

Steph and Julie queueing in the howling, miserable rain while Tom and I look after Olly in the shelter of the modern entrance. Perfect weather for going underground..

Descending 100m into the cistern, we were greeted by rows upon rows of marble columns, now standing in a reservoir of about half a metre of water. And yes, there are still plenty of fish, their ghostly shadows cast by the uplight against the pillars. People take food down there for them, and as I guess they’re no longer caught, there are some monsters lurking under the walkways!

When the fish weren’t around the reflections of the columns and the vaulted ceiling where lovely

Besides the spectacle of the cistern itself, there are 3 columns to look out for along the route. The first is a column repurposed from the now long gone Triumphal Gate of the Forum of Theodosius I – the distinctive peacock eye relief stands out against all of the other smooth columns.

The second and third are two ancient classical bases that can breathe after centuries underwater. These are depictions of Gorgons, which in Greek mythology are 3 sisters, one of whom you’ll undoubtedly have heard of – Medusa – and indeed she is touted as one of the heads, though according to the legend all three sisters had hair made of living, venomous snakes.

Column details in the Basilica Cistern, from left to right: Supporting column originally from the triumphal arch in the Forum of Theodosius I; The Medusa head Gorgon base which is inverted because it is said to negate the power of the gaze; The second Medusa base, this one rotated which also counts as a negating strategy

Like Haghia Sophia, we really enjoyed the Basilica Cistern (and dodging the awful weather outside was a bonus!) – they’re both larger than we thought they’d would be, even having read about them before we visited. Indeed, the Basilica Cistern even has a small cafe!

Us at the Cistern Cafe in the Basilica Cistern. We didn’t buy anything but the coffee smelled good

Along the Land Walls to the Chora Church

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Having explored a section of ancient Istanbul’s sea walls we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the city’s land defences. Running for approximately 6.5km from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn, the Byzantine land walls complete the defences which made Constantinople, as it then was, such a secure place, invulnerable to invasion for centuries. They were initially built in AD413 but an intense earthquake in 447 caused considerable damage and, as Atilla the Hun was advancing on the city, the repairs needed to be speedy. Constantine, the Prefect at that time, threw all of the city’s resources at the task and managed to complete the job in just two months with improvements in the form of an outer wall and moat. Impressive indeed and successful in holding back Atilla.

The Marble Tower was the point where the sea walls joined the land walls

We started out from the Sea of Marmara coast at the Marble Tower, so called because its lower half is faced in marble. This structure was the joining point between the sea and land walls although nowadays it is disconnected from both by a busy road. We had a scramble behind the tower and poked about in the remains of its rooms, now being used by some of the city’s homeless for shelter.

The land walls form an imposing landmark in this part of the city

After about 400m walk alongside the wall we came to Yedikule, literally ‘Seven Towers’, a castle within, and a part of, the walls. After the Conquest, the Ottomans built three additional towers and an enclosing wall inside one of the gates of the land wall. The castle was not used for military purposes but partly as a prison and partly as storage for the State Treasury. The tumbledown minaret of a small mosque still stands in the centre of the courtyard.

The interior of Yedikule castle seen from its walls

We were able to climb inside some of Yedikule’s towers as well as around its wall, admiring the sturdy construction and getting good views out to the sea and over the city. We even spotted some of the city’s landmark buildings – Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Süleymaniye Mosque.

Exploring the Tower of Ambassadors in Yedikule, once used as a prison for foreign envoys

Looking from the top of the walls of Yedikule along the land walls to the Sea of Marmara. The Marble Tower can be seen beside the sea in the centre left of the photo.

Moving on we found that although some sections of the wall have been restored so that you can walk along them, much of it is crumbling and even if it is possible to walk along the top there are not good ways to get up and down so for the most part we were following small streets as close to the wall as we could get.

Unrestored tower in the land walls

Along the outside of a lot of the wall we saw allotments and vegetable gardens

Originally and for centuries afterward there were just ten gates in the whole length of the wall and only five of those crossed the moat allowing access to the outside world. However, in the last hundred or so years sections of the wall have been knocked down to allow the passage of the railway line and several large highways. Even so, the old gates are still in use and given their width (only a little larger than one van or minibus) they must cause bottlenecks of traffic between what is now the city without the walls and the old town.

The narrow Mevlevihane Gate

Towards the Golden Horn end of the walls is Tekfur Saray, originally a Byzantine palace but since the end of the 14th century it has had rather a chequered history serving time as a brothel, a pottery and a menagerie for larger kinds of exotic animals amongst other things all the while somehow maintaing its original character. Unfortunately it isn’t open to the public at the moment although it looks like it’s under restoration so perhaps soon it will be. By the time we reached this point of the walk it was late in the afternoon. Walking the streets through the nearby neighbourhood on the descent to the Golden Horn we were amused to see housewives doing their shopping by lowering down baskets from their apartment windows to the stallholders below, presumably with a list and payment inside.

The impressive Tekfur Saray near the Golden Horn end of the land walls

Chora Church Museum

The church was dedicated to Christ Pantocrater (the Almighty) shown in this mosaic over the door to the inner narthex

Close to the Golden Horn end of the land walls is the former Church of St Saviour in Chora, known in Turkish as Kariye Muzesi. Like many of the Byzantine churches that we’ve visited in Istanbul, this one was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Conquest. Fortunately its magnificent mosaics and frescoes were preserved, even if unconsciously, by being covered in plaster and in the 1950s they were restored and the building opened as a museum. Further restoration has begun recently and the nave of the church was closed off for this work during our visit.

Although the church is quite small, the ceilings are absolutely covered in shimmering mosics

A church or monastery has stood on this spot since before the land walls were built. It underwent several remodellings from the 11th century onwards culminating in the rebuilding and redecoration which gave the church its current form in the early 14th century. The man responsible for this was Theodore Metochites, a high ranking official in the court.

Mosaic portrait of Theodore Metochites presenting the church as a gift to Christ

The mosaics form a series of groups including the life of the Virgin Mary, the life of Christ and Christ’s ministry. The Strolling Through Istanbul book highlighted them for us in order which greatly enhanced the experience as we were able to follow the stories being told.

Dome mosaic showing the ancestry of Christ

Mosaic from the life of Christ showing Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem to be taxed

Mosaic of Christ’s temptation in one of the domes of the outer narthex

In the south-east corner of the church is the Paracclesion, a type of side chapel. Here, rather than mosaics, the walls and ceiling are covered with frescoes showing various aspects of the passing over from life to death, along with portraits of Orthodox saints. Remarkably it is thought that the same artist responsible for the mosaics also did the frescoes. While undoubtedly masterly these were for us much less spectacular than the wonderful gilded mosaics.

Frescoes in the Paracclesion

The centrepiece of the frescoes is in the semidome over the apse, called the Anastasis in Greek which translates as Resurrection; it shows Christ having broken down the gates of Hell pulling Adam and Eve out of their tombs while various other Biblical figures look on

The dome of the Paracclesion shows the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels

The church was busy but as everything you want to see is at a height and requires looking up other people don’t get in the way so much. For us this was definitely a highlight of our stay and I would say a must see sight for anyone visiting Istanbul.

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Chorsu Bazaar

The lovely tiled dome of Chorsu Bazaar is but the dusty tiled tip of this immense iceberg of a market

Chorsu Bazaar is the bustling heart of Tashkent. We love visiting markets anyway, so Chorsu was high on our list and after a few hours wandering through it, we think it’s a strong contender for the best market we’ve visited.

Inside the cool Chorsu dome are the various meat counters set out in concentric rings

This guy asked for his photo as he was restocking one of the butcher counters with fresh meat

The icon of Chorsu bazaar is the wonderful turquoise tiled domed hall that sits in the north-west corner and houses the meat market. Outside, we found rows of rice and spice sellers, rows of beautifully ripe vegetables – including tomatoes the size of baking apples – and trucks full of melons and watermelons! Further, we found household goods, shoe repairs, a high street-like two storey row of clothing shops and stalls and a cafe area. It was then we realised the dome is but a fraction of the size of this sprawling hub of sights, smells, tastes and trades.

Rows upon rows of fresh produce, like this one of potatoes

There were echoes of our experiences in Bangladesh markets where the traders would beckon us over wanting their photograph taken or for us to pose with them!

In a quiet corner of the bazaar, our good friend Jo (whom you might remember joined us in Vietnam last year) was roped into a photo while buying some dried apricots

Kulkedash Medressa

The Kulkedash Medressa sits on a hill in the south-eastern corner of Chorsu Bazaar, and is where the busses drop off from the airport

The Kulkedash Medressa is a welcome slice of serenity after the claustrophobic bustle of Chorsu Bazaar. Medressa translates as school, and is akin to our higher education or university system; students learn a wide syllabus of sciences and Islam.

The lush serenity of the Kulkedash Medressa courtyard

As well as teaching rooms and student accomodation, teachers have small offices and as we walked around a few of them were open. When we popped our heads around the door of the calligraphy room, the friendly gentleman inside came to the door and invited us in. His English was excellent, and after he showed us the various styles of Arabic script, including a mosaic style used on minarets and diagonal diamond patterns, he wrote Julie’s name in Arabic on a scrap of paper!

Calligraphy teacher writing Julie’s name in Arabic. He explained that he travels quite a bit to advise the decorative restoration and construction work of Islamic buildings within Uzbekistan

Amir Timur Square

Statue of Amir Timur, the national hero of Uzbekistan

Born around 1330, Amir Timur is the Central Asian Chinggis Khan – regarded as a military genius and tactician who sought to reunify the great Khan’s empire, his Tirmurid dynasty extended from southeastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, through Central Asia encompassing part of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and bordered Kashgar in China.

Today, he’s regarded as the national hero of Uzbekistan and his statue dominates Tashkent’s central square. It’s pretty much the only thing here save for a few fountains and as there’s little shade we didn’t stay for long.

Independence Square

The gates to Uzbekistan’s Independence Square

A couple of blocks away from Amir Timur is the country’s Independence Square, where fountains abound and giant square gates are adorned with silver pelicans said to bring good luck. The independence celebrated here is from the former USSR, Uzbekistan was one of the first countries to declare their independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Tashkent's Crying Mother statue in remembrance of the Uzbek soldiers that fought in World War II

Tashkent’s Crying Mother statue in remembrance of the Uzbek soldiers who fought in World War II

Facing us across the square is the giant statue of a Crying Mother who commemorates the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers who died fighting with the allies in World War II. Having such a imposingly powerful memorial here gave me a strange sense – perhaps it’s meant as a reminder that independence is hard won but worth fighting for.

Khast Imom Square

Khast Imom Square. From left (east) to right (west, through south): Hazroti Imom Friday Mosque; Moyie Mubarek Library Museum; Telyashayakh Mosque; Barak Khan Medressa

It won’t be much of a spoiler to tell you right now, that one of the three words we’ll be using to describe Uzbekistan in our Round Up we both said out loud when we first saw the Khast Imom Square.. “Wow.”

Julie and I in front of the Barak Khan Medressa

This is the official religious centre of Islam in Uzbekistan. To the east of the square is the Hazroti Imom Friday mosque, to the west is the Barak Khan Medressa which used to be a centre of learning until the student rooms filled up with souvenir stands.

According to our guidebook there is a third building called the Moyie Mubarek Library Museum that houses the Osman Qur’an (Uthman Qur’an), the oldest known copy of the Qur’an. I thought it might be the small, squat building in the square, but Julie thought it was the grand, wooden pillar-fronted one to the north. We poked our heads into the latter to find what looked like a doctor’s waiting room, and received a very puzzled look from the handful of people sitting inside. We translated the sign on the outside and deduced it was, in fact, a family planning clinic!

It took a bit more wandering before Julie decided that it might be worth a look in the small squat building in the square. The one with the short fence and the security box outside.

We paid 6,000som each (about £1.20) to the guard inside the building, and taking centre stage, is reportedly the oldest Qur’an in the world.

The Osman Qur’an (Uthman Qur’an), said to be the oldest in the world. A few pages are missing, and we overheard a guide say that there’s a page in the British Museum (photo source: Bruce Loeffler)

Its pages are about a foot square, made from deerskin and written in old Arabic script. Even with a few pages missing, it weighs about 40kg.

Our guidebook tells us a little of its history..

This enormous deerskin tomb was brought to Samarkand [in Uzbekistan] by Amir Timur, then taken to Moscow by the Russians in 1868 before being returned [to Tashkent] by Lenin in 1924 as an act of goodwill towards Turkestan’s Muslims. – Lonely Planet, Central Asia, p147

Peeping through the door into the Hazroti Imom Friday Mosque. We were allowed to enter the courtyard and look through the windows but we weren’t allowed into the mosque itself

The library has many more examples of the Qur’an, including a couple of tiny ones with pages smaller than postage stamps, and a display of translations into different languages.

Museums

Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan, not much to look at from the outside but definitely worth the visit

Like any capital city, Tashkent has a good number of museums though most get lukewarm write-ups and of the ones we decided to visit we found the quality was a little variable.

First up was the Fine Arts Museum of Uzbekistan which we really enjoyed. Each of the 4 floors are partitioned into small, easily digestible rooms and the whole place is chronological from the ground up, starting with 7th century Buddhist relics, through Uzbek crafts such as block printing and silk production, to Russian paintings and sculpture inspired by the European Renaissance.

The House of Photography, described as “edgy” by the Lonely Planet may have lost its edge

We love photography museums because we like taking photographs and they’re great for ideas and inspiration. Not so much Tashkent’s House of Photography which, while very cheap, had one display of aerial shots of Uzbekistan akin to those you might find in a tourism brochure, and the other two were probably what I’d shoot if you gave me an expensive DSLR for a day – in focus, good detail, but standard subjects, composition and nothing memorable. Still, at only 10p to get in it was worth the punt, and there wasn’t an extra charge for taking photographs.

Mobbed by a class of school kids as we made our way into the History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan

Last on our short list was the History Museum of the People of Uzbekistan, which we were lucky to get into at all as it must be a prerequisite school-trip!

It’s essentially a history museum of Uzbekistan from ancient Turkestan to the present day and, while a little heavy going in places, and a little bereft of English captioning on recent events it was a good over-arching introduction to the people and dates that shaped the country.

Orthodox Assumption Cathedral

The Assumption Cathedral in Tashkent reminded us of the many Orthodox churches and cathedrals we visited in Russia

We loved visiting the massive Orthodox churches and cathedrals in Russia, especially the Church on Spilled Blood in St Petersberg and the golden domes of the The Church of All-Saints Resplendent on Russian Land in Yeketerinberg, which we were reminded of when we saw Tashkent’s Assumption Cathedral.

The golden domes are topped with very ornate crosses

With the balmy weather, Julie and Jo had forgotten their headscarves, but were able to borrow one so we could take a look around inside. We didn’t take any pictures as there were people worshipping, except for one at the entrance..

Julie and Jo in borrowed headscarves

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

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So we’re finally in Russia. We arrived in St. Petersburg on Monday by high speed train from Helsinki (top speed about 210 km/hr, or 130 miles/hr). It took just 3.5 hours including a relatively brief stop at the border for the passport control people to check that everyone’s documents were in order. I’ve decided that I might join the Russian border control agency after our trip as I would quite like a job where part of the uniform is a fur hat :)

Us on the train before departure from Helsinki station

We’re loving St. Petersburg so far. It’s a bit like a cross between London (big, noisy, lots of traffic, heaps of museums) and Venice (shabby grandeur, canals, extremely stylish wealthy locals). I think it helps that the weather has become spring like as well and we’ve had some sunshine every day!

Yesterday we visited the Hermitage, but more of that later as we intend to have a second day there – it’s absolutely vast, I think you could spend a full week there and not see everything! Today we went to the Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood which is just a 5 minute walk from our excellently situated and very friendly hostel. Because it’s so close we’ve walked past it every day and each time I’ve taken a photo as I just can’t get over how amazingly ornate and colourful it is.

External details

Christ mosaic under the porch next to the canal

And yet the outside was just a taster for the inside. Mosaics cover the whole of the interior and the amount of gold in them seems to make the church glow.

We spent a lot of our visit just gazing upwards.

The church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded by revolutionaries in March 1881, and this is where the ‘Spilled Blood’ part of the name comes from. Inside there is a canopy carved from polished stone over the spot.

Some of the mosaics are breathtaking, especially the ones in the roof.

The altar screen is covered in gold and gemstones.

Altar screen details

Internal details

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures