The city of the Sultan; and domestic manners of the Turks
| Name of text: | The city of the Sultan; and domestic manners of the Turks |
| Author of text: | Julia Pardoe |
| Date of text: | 1837 |
| Date of person in text: | Nineteenth century |
| Name of structure in text: | Hagia Sophia |
| Type of structure in text: | Church |
| Date of structure in text | 6th century |
| Century of structure 1: | 6 AD |
| Century of structure 2: | |
| Country in text: | Turkey |
| Region in text: | |
| City in text: | Constantinople |
| Specific place of mosaic in text: | Sale of loose tesserae |
| Description of mosaic in text: | But the dome, which was formerly adorned with minute mosaics, was white-washed when the Turks converted St, Sophia into a mosque; and the original richness of the design is now only to be deciphered in spots where the plaster has fallen away; added to which, the inferior Imams attached to the building make a trade of the fragments of mosaic that they are continually tearing down, and which are eagerly bought up by travellers, who thus encourage a Vandalism whose destructive effects are irreparable. […] Here we ascended … to the gallery devoted originally to the use of the women […] and here the mosaic merchants plunged their hands into their breasts, and from amid the folds of their garments drew forth some thousands of the gilt and coloured stones which they had torn away from the elaborately decorated dome. |
| Mosaic date in text: | |
| Tesserae silver mentioned in text? | |
| Tesserae gold mentioned in text? | Yes |
| Colour descriptions in text: | |
| Bibliography: | Pardoe, Julia, The city of the Sultan; and domestic manners of the Turks (London: 1837) vol. 1, pp. 388-90 |
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