Hermanner Volksblatt. [volume] (Hermann, Mo.) 1875-1928, 1920-06-25
VIII become OF Ava Sofia

will become of Aya Solar
Is 1t to remain a place of Moslem wor-
ship, or will that greatest temple
after st. Peters" be rededicated to
Christian use? So asks e. A. N. Val.
entine In Los Angeles Times,
Whatever be the tolerance shown
the creed of the Arab prophet in the
COnStantinOple of the future, 1t Is al
most certain the cross will supersede
the crescent on Justinian's splendid
monument to early Christianity. Its
new conservation to the purposes for
which 1t was reared Is a duty owed
the memory of its illuStriOus founder.
Not ever st. Peters outrivals Aya
Sofia In interest Its history Is In
separable. not only with Constantine
pie itself, but with Christianity. The
creation of ByZantium as the seat Of
the eastern Roman empire by Con-
stantine the Great had a religious as
well as a political motive. Made a
convert to the teachings of the NaZa-
e by the "In hoe signo vinces"
vision, he resolved to establish a new
capital In which that faith should have
exclusive sway, and his first act was
to lay the foundations Of the original
basIlica of "The Divine Wisdom" on
which the present fame was rebuilt by
his descendant, the author OF the
"Pandects." Byzantium was to be
what Rome Is today. 1t was through
his successor of the Caesars and his
Church Of Aga Sofia, the See of the
Greek Patriarchs, that Christianity at'
tanned her first great triumph over pa
ganism.
Ava Sofia may we'll be called the
soul Of ConstantinOple-the heartbeat
OF it's long histOry-it has figured IN
all its various chapters Of vicissitudes,
its variegated romance, on which rests
an exotic bloom richer than any In
ventions of fancy.
On One Of Seven Hills.
The cupola and lanking minarets or
Ava Sofia, famillarized by paintings
and photography, are what first eaten
the eye in approaching Constantinople
by water. Dawn or sunset hour is the
most favorable moment for that ap-
proach. the impressions Of which stir
the pulse of ever the most sophisti-
Gated traveller. VislOned at dawn,
with the city wrapped in light mist,
| family touched by bushes Of a Still
| hidden sun, the many mosques OF
STEAMBOAT appear almost aerial, seem
like vast rose-tinged soap bubbles
afoat on the filmy sea, insubstantlai
as the fabric of dream, like the phan'
tasmagorIa evoked by h~ashish-eaters
Ava Sofia occupies n Of the seven
hills of STEAMBOAT, that congested quar-
ter Of true Turkeydom, lying on the
site of old Byzantium, on the Asiatic
shore and separated from GaIata'
Pera. the cosmopolitan quarter, by the
| Golden Horn and from Skutari by the
Rosporus, OF these superb SUBMITS
II has the nearest and most command
ing location. One sees 1t from Amos
every point OF Constantinople anu iS
cnvirons. Yet like most else In tn
city, a neal view does not enhance
happy impressions. When n mas
gained the square on which 1t Is stu
ated II is no longer like a pleasure
dome of Kubla Kahn. The main Gu
pola has lost both its silvery airlnes'
and swelling proportions the Irregular
mass, guarded by its four minarets
like giant pointed pencils, lacks warmth
Of color and seems confused In design
Its nucleus-the basilica OF Justinlai
struggles, LAGOON fashion, In TN
coils Of Mohammedan encumbrance.
pespoIied by the Turk.
The Turk has despoiled Aya Sons
of all that Is not essential to the build
ing. The heaped treasures OF Justin
,an's hands that once filed the sanctu
airy are gene; but there are still In
rich materials out Of which the basil
Tea was constructed. When n passe
through porphyry gates Of the court
yard, ornamented with a fountain