Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-12

a famous architectural authority, Ii
the most perfect and the most teaIti
ful church ever erected by any Chris
tan people,"
The chief charm of the interior O
st. Sophia is it's massive simplicity ant
perfect proportions. 1t is almost en-
tirely without characterization, eXcep
the mosaic work upon the walls an(
ceiling. All the fiat surfaces are GOV
cred with mosaic laid upon gold. Com
pared with st. Peters at Rome it is a:
empty as barn. There are no tombs
no statues, no affairs, nothing to OBJ
struct the view in any direction
nothing to conceal the graceful lines q
the arches and the simple coloring o
the walls, which is soft yellow, near
ly as deep as an orange and traced
with different dark shades of green.
heard young critic remark the Other
day that there was nothing to see il
st. Sophia which is almost strict,
true, IN comparison with the other
great churches with which we are
| familiar
| There is beautiful balcony for the
sultan to occupy in case he should
come to St Sophia to worship, and he
would be sheltered by gilded screens
The mihrab, which corresponds to the
altar in Roman Catholic churches and
indicates the direction Of Mecca
toward which Moslems turn in prayer
Is simple recess unadOrned, and near
by is the mimber, or pulpit In St
| Sophia, as in all mosques which have
been secured to Islam by the power OF
arms. the preacher still mounts the
| pulpit with his sword in his hand and
hangs out flag as a symbol of VIC
| tory and conquest.
The floor of the entire mosque is COW
cred with Turkish rugs of the richest
texture. and at intervals of six or eight
feet wooden trOughs made of undressed
lumber stretch across the entire area.
These are for the convenience of wor-
shippers and for the promotion Of neat
| ness, and when one selects a place to
| kneel and pray he drops his shoes into
| a trough. The rugs are divided into
sections plainly marked so that the
faithful cannot have any excuse for
crowding each other.
At two large fountains they can per-
| form their additions before beginning
| their prayers, and above them is the
sensible admonition, wash thy sins
| and not thy face only"
Nine gates lead into the temple
Over the central one, by which the en-
peror entered, is painted an open book
on a reading desk, surmounted by 4
| dove with Outstretched wings. Upon
the pages of the book are the words,
81 tina Of hn CHI De-, 10
| If any man enter in he shall be saved,
| and go in and out and find pasture" -
| In the tympanum above is a mosaic,
| also dating back to Christian times,
representing Christ upon the throne,
with the words, Peace be unto you. !
am the light of the world
The Mohammedans have retained
| most of the characterization of the
| Christians. and even here and there a
| cross is permitted to remain, although
| most of them were chiseled off GEN.
| turtles ago. There are also several
relics of Christ which they refuse to re-
turn to the Christians. The most in
teresting is cradle of red marble, said
to have been used by Jesus, and a
| basin in which He is said to have been
washed.
ST. Sophia for fifteen hundred years
has been the theater Of some of the
greatest and most solemn ceremonies
in history, and was particularly as
| ISOLATED with the crusades. On one of
the piers in the nave is the mark re-
sembling the imprint of a bloody fand,
said to have been made by Mohammed
Il. as his war charger stood upon the
bodies of Christian corpses on the day
of the capture of Constantinople by
the Turks.
All around the mosques are tombs,
schools, baths, fountains. shops for the
| sale of chaplets and other religious
] articles, hospices for pilgrims, kit
chens for the poor and a theological
seminary with several thousand stu
dents.
The educational system of the Turks
is not entirely bad. but is mostly for
religious instruction. The 'mekteb,' .
or primary schools, are general. and
afford every boy and girl in the city
an opportunity to learn to read and
write and obtain knowledge Of the
Koran. Such schools are attached to
every mosque in the empire. The
ibtidaiyeh. or secondary schools, af
ford opportunities for learning geogra
ply, arithmetic, history and the mod
ern languages, but there are only
twenty of these schools in all Con
stantinOple for a million and more peo-
pie. The medresseh, or colleges, teach
philosophy, logic. rhetoric, theology
and Turkish law, and generally take
the place of the universities found in
other countries. They are the highest
educational institutions maintained by
the Turkish government. There are
sc hocls of law, medicine, mines and
forests, art, and a manual training
establishment supported by the gov
eminent. with nine large institutions
for military and naval education. The
Greeks, Armenians and Jews each ha ve
their own schools connected with their
churches and maintained by private
contributions. Some of them offer a
high standard of education and have
fine libraries.
A VALUABLE MEDICINE
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