the fact that you called Constantinople made me smile.

If I could go there, all I could think of would be the last combined Christian worship before the fall. A truly dark day for the West. May the fallen Greeks and Latins who died defending Constantinople rest in peace.

@Michael_the_Drunkard

2 жыл бұрын

Except those who sacked it in the 4th crusade

I visited the church in 1998. When I went backpacking through Europe. I'm not religious but the experience had a profound effect on me. It started my love of history and especially Roman and crusade times. Thank you for your videos. I love them.

Huge church and beautiful mosaics. Thank you so much for sharing this!

an amazing cathedral desecrated by the Turks. Viva Constantinople

@BaibonnDilangalenSangid-fv9qk

4 жыл бұрын

Not really, the Ottoman Sultan just corrected the idea of Hagia Sofia (House of Wisdom) translating the vision into reality honoring the real source of Wisdom that is God and not Virgin Mary who were task to carry out the immaculate conception.

Greetings from Turkey :) We know that Christians in the world see this Church in high regard, so after the House of Osman and the Caliphate was removed and banished from Turkey by the Republican Parliament after WWI, the Parliament and Turkish president converted it into a museum from being a mosque in 1935 to honor the Christians and restoration began to open the covered mosaics again.

@anng.4542

4 жыл бұрын

@Freedom Always - but Erdogan has other plans.

@freedomalways1294

4 жыл бұрын

@@anng.4542 Sadly so :/

@Awakeningspirit20

Жыл бұрын

This aged well...

Hagia Sophia doesn't have "Ottoman calligraphy" its been defaced with "Islamic Graffiti".

@Ninjaananas

7 жыл бұрын

There is also an ottoman specific calligraphy.

@truthseeker1328

7 жыл бұрын

graffiti doesn't qualify as calligraphy.

@Ninjaananas

7 жыл бұрын

The ottomans didn't use graffite. It is a fact that ottomans used calligraphy. And Graffiti is also art. It shows that you don't know much about art that you use graffiti as an insult for other arts.

@Ninjaananas

7 жыл бұрын

You are full of shit. We are talking about art. Not about crimes. You are using an ad hominem and that shows that you have no arguments left wich is perspicuous because your whole statement had no scientific, historic or reasonable basis.

@truthseeker1328

7 жыл бұрын

So according your logic or lack of it, we should turn a blind eye to a group of people who committed some history worst crimes against humanity because you think their art. Spoken like a true idiot. Bury your head in the sand of denial, close your eyes to the sight of mass murder, plug your ears to muffle the sound of countless screams. However the only thing you don't do very well is cover your FAT MOUTH. So how does "art" have a scientific basis???? And the Armenian genocide has no historical foundation??? You probably deny the holocaust as well just like your mentor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does.

The second most amazing building built by Greeks

@oghaki5097

4 жыл бұрын

If this is second, what is the first most amazing?

@zapogarza6132

4 жыл бұрын

oghaki it must be the Parthenon it’s pretty impressive

@panagiotisgkountoumas9022

4 жыл бұрын

@@zapogarza6132 it is the Acropolis of Athens

Two thumbs up for identifying the city correctly. May she and the Sancta Sophia stay safe.

Considering how many more acts of vandalism Hagia Sophia will suffer in the future, an earthquake razing the church from the face of the Earth would probably be a merciful act. It is such a shame that this marvel of architecture is in the hands of a country that had never had a civilization worth mentioning. They always stole and conquered; never created anything themselves.

@j.g.campbell3440

8 жыл бұрын

God does not leave himself without witness. Although the icons are damaged and desecrated they still bear witness to the longsuffering of God. I am also reminded of the damaged icons of the Virgin of Vladimir and the Christ of Novogorod. Can one still reverence the icons, or is this forbidden by the authorities? I remember visiting the Timkin Gallery in San Diego and an elderly person venerating those images rescued from the rubble of Soviet desecrations. At the time, I thought it quaint, but I would pay dearly to visit these windows into heaven, consecrated again by the blood of the faithful Orthodox Christians shed during the Holodomor and other soviet persecutions of the early 20th Century. Thanks for presenting this virtual tour of one of the Christian holy places, Real Crusades History! May God grant you Many Years!

@batuhan0501

7 жыл бұрын

cartoon80s90s you're pretty ignorant if you think the Ottoman Empire never contributed anything. Educate and be amazed. Stupid moron.

@oghaki5097

4 жыл бұрын

BM how about some examples of Ottoman-specific and Ottoman-created culture that have unambiguously had widespread influence on the world today?

@Michael_the_Drunkard

2 жыл бұрын

@@batuhan0501 the Ottomans absorbed many cultural aspects of the people they conquered, but aside from a few advances in warfare, their historical contribution is lacking. Fact is, they will never live up to the glory of the Eastern Romans. That role was better fulfilled by their rivals, the Russians.

@Michael_the_Drunkard

2 жыл бұрын

No, it should definitely stay, as even the muslims see value in it. Who knows, maybe there will be a Christian reconquest? Only God and time will tell.

Imagine how majestic & beautiful would an orthodox mass look like if performed in Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia was at the Epicenter of the ROMAN EMPIRE in the Middle Ages. The people of the city and even the Turks knew them as Romans. They were citizens of the ROMAN EMPIRE. Byzantine is a description coined by historians in the 1800s. Mike

@RealCrusadesHistory

6 жыл бұрын

Gachain Right, and the proper historical term used by professional historians is Byzantine Empire. The Crusaders in 1099 also didn't call the war they'd just won "The First Crusade".

@Gachain

6 жыл бұрын

Historians in the 1800s created the name Byzantine Empire and yes the term Byzantine Empire is the accepted term in use today. The term Byzantine Empire is a modern term, but it was the ROMAN Empire and it continued until 1453. Mike

@RealCrusadesHistory

6 жыл бұрын

It changed quite a bit to the point that it was a very different animal than the old Roman Empire. By the time of the medieval era, the term "Roman Empire" was more a relic of what it had once been. Byzantium is a term that references Constantinople itself, and certainly by the era of the Byzantine Empire Constantinople was the driving force of this empire.

@Gachain

6 жыл бұрын

Yes it had changed as all things do over time. The Roman Empire indeed ,the office of Emperor, had changed between the time of Octavian and Constantine yet Constantine was a ROMAN Emperor and he founded New ROME as his capital on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium (Latin name). The City was the co-capital with Rome of a Roman Empire with co-emperors until 476. It continued as the remaining capital of the Roman Empire until 1453 when the Turks brought the walls down with Cannon. Broadly speaking, the term BYZANTINE EMPIRE was created by historians in the 1800s to delineate it from the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE which was a creation of Pope Leo III 424 years after the last emperor in the west. The people of the Empire were Roman citizens, and from my reading the city was known to the Turks as RUM which seems to be Turkish for ROME and Constantine's first name for the city Novus Roma (New Rome) but by the 1400s it was not so NEW anymore although the most beautiful city in Europe. As a student of the LATER ROMAN EMPIRE since college, I am well aware that the accepted term for the State is the BYZANTINE EMPIRE, Yet I know that it was the ROMAN EMPIRE governed from NEW ROME until it fell in 1453. Constantine XI Draggles Palaiologos, the last Emperor knew himself to be a ROMAN Emperor and would need it explained to him how he became a BYZANTINE Emperor. I respect your right to have a different view. I am just expressing mine. Mike

@robotube7361

6 жыл бұрын

It is de jure and de facto the Roman Empire. Times change but they called themselves Romans right till the very end.

While I taught in Istanbul in 2006 I visited the church 8 times and spent 2-3 hours each time. As an ethnic Greek I was drawn to it as a very sacred place.

@Michael_the_Drunkard

2 жыл бұрын

*Constantinople

I have a dream.. Deus vult.

R E M O V E K E B A B

@deathtomohammedpissbeuponh3976

8 жыл бұрын

Constantinople je Srbija!

@MysticKnight

8 жыл бұрын

The Dragas line certainly has a claim.

@MysticKnight

8 жыл бұрын

They do.

@MysticKnight

8 жыл бұрын

***** Not an argument.

@MysticKnight

8 жыл бұрын

Through the maternal line of Constantin XI they do have a legitimate claim. You are just angry since they held lands spanning parts of today's Bulgaria.

This is painful to watch.

Great stuff, J. Stephens. As someone who will never get there myself, thanks for sharing!

@RealCrusadesHistory

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it Anthony!

The marble is mind blowing. Thanks for the great tour.

@bloodandwinearered

8 жыл бұрын

I agree and am flattered that you take time to reply to my comment.

awesome video. Thanks!

thanks for sharing! God bless!

Like that low key shade at 0:25. 'in Constantinople' not 'Istanbul'. Great video. I'd love to visit there given all the history there is. I went to Malta last year and went to St. John's Co-cathedral - one of the best I've seen and also the Palace of the Grandmaster.

Well, you get around. This was impressive. My sincere thank you+

Hey brother, I still appreciate all you're doing. So I have a question. Do you have a video on the Conflict between dutch protestants and Catholic between 1550-1560? I have noticed a video which I suspect is flaunt with bias and inaccuracy. I would appreciate your expertise in this matter.

A beautiful structure. I'm glad it wasn't knocked down when Constantinople was taken by Islam.

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

The Church of the Holy Apostles and the Column of Justinian were though unfortunatly. Shame really, they must have been quite a sight.

@nmjjmn663

8 жыл бұрын

True, they also destroyed the Library of Alexandria when they invaded Egypt, and the original Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I wonder how many ancient monuments would still be standing today if it wasn't for Islamic conquests.

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

***** The muslims probably did not destroy the Library of Alexandria. If it even existed by the 7th century it would probably already be in ruins. It is last attested to exist in the 2nd century A.D which suggest it was destroyed in phases, by the 5th century it was long gone.

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

***** 'Fraid not, however if you want a nice list of Roman monuments in Constantinople I would recommend this handy website: www.byzantium1200.com/contents.html I also found this nice set of detailed reconstructions showcasing a few of the monuments: www.antoine-helbert.com/fr/portfolio/annexe-work/byzance-architecture.html www.antoine-helbert.com/fr/portfolio/annexe-work/byzance-scenes.html

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

***** The records you are referring to are disputed by most historians for several reasons. First off it is an extremely biased and one sided account written by a christian source, secondly Alexandria had already become a backwater by this point. They had no reason to rebuild the library when the Library of Constantinople had already taken it's spot as the center of learning within the empire.

I hope you do more of these "Man on the street" / "Rick Steve's Europe" type deals =-)

Please make your book available in E-Pub format for the B&N Nook. If you do, I will buy!

How great!

Interesting how there are many wide corridors and spaces. Not like most medieval-era Western cathedrals whom are more centered around one big hall.

Make The Hagia Sophia a church again 2016!!!

@alig.20

5 жыл бұрын

Darthchris Lord21 It wont be a church neither a mosque. It will always stay as a museum. At least I will do my best for it.

@major7977

4 жыл бұрын

@@alig.20 It's a Mosque now in 2020. What's up?

@alig.20

4 жыл бұрын

@@major7977 Im a Turkish Man and I apologize the whole world for destroying such a beauty.

@major7977

4 жыл бұрын

@@alig.20 Nothing has been destroyed. Sultan Mehmet Fateh bought it and endowed it to the Muslims. The Mosaics has been preserved and the building will be looked after.

@GD-bm1bu

4 жыл бұрын

Make the hagia Sophia mosque again 2020

How big was one tessera in those mosaics?

Uh painfull to watch poor church

remember the fourth crusade. when crusaders sacked and pillage Constantinople, even stole all the gold, silver, precious gems along with many holy relics from hagia sophia.

@kodylangham

6 жыл бұрын

Deli Octavian SHHH!!!! let us not mention that Crusade in which Christians pillaged another Christian City.

@Orthodoge

5 жыл бұрын

They also raped and pillaged and even desecrated and destroyed the remains of Emperor Constantine

@danielandres1579

5 жыл бұрын

They were all ex communicated from the church

@Manuel-qu3tc

3 жыл бұрын

@@danielandres1579 Briefly. Until the pope saw the spoils of war.

why you don't have any videos about byzantine empire ??

@Ceylin_Kurtbogan

8 жыл бұрын

I agree. We need more video on Byzantine empire

@drnyqterstein1683

7 жыл бұрын

Merhaba! :-). i love to talked about Hagia Sophia. And everyone knows that Hagia Sophia was build in the Byzantine Empire. And yeah we all knows that Hagia Sophia is Byzantine Building. But this video is cool! is told about Islamic Culture. i hope you enjoy the video brother. Selam from Indonesia :-)

@robotube7361

6 жыл бұрын

he hates Byzantine Empire

@karenl.1695

4 жыл бұрын

@@robotube7361 Who hates it ?

@Michael_the_Drunkard

2 жыл бұрын

@@robotube7361 bc he is a catholic loser, that sides with them on every past conflict, even when they sacked the most importanct city of Eastern Christendom. That's why I stopped watching his videos.

Mashallah it's now open as a mosque again

Did you spit on Dandolo's tomb? And did you see the Norse graffiti from the Varangian guard?

@RealCrusadesHistory

8 жыл бұрын

I would have rather spit on the graves of the Angeloi emperors.

@bordoenes6217

7 жыл бұрын

Only people with death wish would dare that. Turks tend to be very... aggresive towards people that disrespect.

@RealCrusadesHistory

7 жыл бұрын

Lol, yeah, sure, they're real frightening in their "aggression"...

@RealCrusadesHistory

7 жыл бұрын

Lol, you need to calm down. I have no interest in spitting on anyone's grave, especially when I'm a guest in their country. I really enjoyed my stay in Turkey. The people were incredibly hospitable and I met some people over there that I still keep in contact with and consider friends. Turkey is not some militant stronghold of jihadism, it's a warm, welcoming country filled with ordinary people who just want to live their lives. And no, I'm not biased, you're the one that's biased and apparently unhinged as well since you're advocating violence.

@RealCrusadesHistory

7 жыл бұрын

This was a typical experience I had in Turkey: at one point, my friends and I arrived in a small town and found that we were a bit lost. A man in a barber shop came out onto the street, asked if we needed help. We told him we were lost. He immediately invited us into his shop, offered us coffee and snacks, pulled up a map of the town on his computer, and helped us figure out where we were going. He then gave us his phone number in case we needed any more help while we were in town. In another case, we stayed in a little hotel out in the country, and the owner of the hotel's mom brought all kinds of awesome food that she'd made and wouldn't accept payment when we tried to pay her for it. Every evening she would bring us coffee to our rooms as well. Honestly everywhere I went people were like this, it was really striking, and I left Turkey very impressed with the people.

Call to worship that is.

Thank god they only covered the faces

would you consider the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec empire a crusade?

@nmjjmn663

8 жыл бұрын

No, that's not one of the Crusades, just two countries going to war.

@trailerparkwerewolf910

8 жыл бұрын

+nmj jmn they went in the name of God and glory and defeated a heathen empire

@nmjjmn663

8 жыл бұрын

Yes, but it was called by the government, not the Pope, and only one nation participated, not the entire Christian world.

Have you met Ezio Auditore da Firenze? He drinks coffeehouse in Greece. He sending assassin messager after warning you rise of Islamic extremists.

Can I donate art to your channel? I am a digital painter

@RealCrusadesHistory

8 жыл бұрын

Certainly. Send me a private message and we'll discuss it further.

I can just make out Justinian and Theodora up on the balcony, looking down on the flock of priests and nobles. So amazing!

I hope the military coup doesn't damage the Hagia Sophia

@realcrusadeshustory what's your opinion on everything that is happening in Europe with all these Islamic "refugees" and Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean? Will it change Europe for ever ? Will the European do something to stop all this illegal immigrants?

Why didn't they destroy the grave of that 4th crusade leader? I swear I read they actually did!

Is it just me or 12 minutes video isn't nearly long enough to see everything?

Hey dude great video, but there's one thing I don't understand; how could all those byzantine frescos survive? I mean imagine being otto peasant walking in for a prayer and sudenly you see crosses and saints on the walls of the mosque

@ryantheroman4331

8 жыл бұрын

Oh, he states in the video that they were covered up during the shitty era.

@hahskjyisi7039

8 жыл бұрын

+Ryan The Roman I probably missed it because of the backgroud noise. Anyway, thanks for answer, Allah bless you

Eww sick what the fuck. Why is Dastardly Dondalo buried there?

@vtheawesome

8 жыл бұрын

+Crocuta IV I hope so.

@RealCrusadesHistory

8 жыл бұрын

Dandolo was no worse than many of the Byzantine rulers from that era. The Angeloi were the real destroyers of Byzantium.

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

While I agree that the Angeloi do certainly not get enough shit thrown at them I would argue that the real destroyer of the Empire was their inability to get a proper succession system going. Far too often when an emperor died there was uncertainty/civil war regarding succession. It seems as if the Romans simply did not manage to learn from the Crisis of the 3rd Century until it was too late.

@vtheawesome

8 жыл бұрын

+marvelfannumber1 A good point. There's a reason that kingdoms with one dynasty, or at least dynasties that claim common ancestry survive. Take France for example.

@marvelfannumber1

8 жыл бұрын

vtheawesome Indeed, people tend to forget that the Roman Empire even by 1204 was still de jure a Republic. Sure the Senate had no power anymore and were purely ceremonial but the people/army still felt they had the right to choose a new Emperor if the previous one did poorly. This Monarchical Dictatorship mentality would all to often distract the Empire from more important threats and tear them apart from the inside. It would also allow for reactionaries like Andronikos Komnenos to sever the Empires relationship with the Latins.

Byzantine?? the ROMAN EMPIRE :)

@Ninjaananas

7 жыл бұрын

Both dead

@davidkomn9874

7 жыл бұрын

There wasn't both, just one Empire, the Roman Empire created by Augustus, until 1453.

@Ninjaananas

7 жыл бұрын

Byzantine empire was an other name for east roman empire.

@robotube7361

6 жыл бұрын

Byzantine Empire was the name of THE Roman Empire in the MIddle ages .

where are all the nuclear war star babies. are they angels too.

@lastlaugh183

7 жыл бұрын

this is a hoax. that's all new art.

@lastlaugh183

7 жыл бұрын

xtcc. 2

🇬🇷✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️✝️🇬🇷♥️

I visited there. Beautiful place but those giant signs with arabic really ugly it up. They look so out of place. Like giant in your face billboards for islam.

Would it be possible to retake Constantinople?

@robotube7361

6 жыл бұрын

the Great powers dont allow orthodox country to take the city.

@erdincylmaz4529

6 жыл бұрын

u can always try man, we Turks r ready :)

@anoniem_nederland1401

5 жыл бұрын

In your dreams...maybe

@oghaki5097

4 жыл бұрын

@@duxklodna7797 Hopefully a bunch of Americans don't read your comments and start supporting a Greek effort to do so. You certainly won't be "ready too to slaughter" them, lol. I'd be surprised if you lasted 24 hours.

@GD-bm1bu

4 жыл бұрын

You can try if you got nothing to loose

Hagia Sofia is Albanian Church

@2003fordranger

6 жыл бұрын

Alban Jaha your country is garbage lol. Don’t ever try to say beautiful Greek history is shitty Albanian

@cooldude-goku

4 жыл бұрын

0 iq

Infested command center

islam made that beauty dirty

Hagia Sophia becoming mosque again in 2023 :) U cant dirty our holly mosque with ur dirty feet again. But u can always enter without ur shoes :)

@alig.20

5 жыл бұрын

erdinç yılmaz Bizi yabancılara rezil ediyorsun. Hiçbir şekilde cami olmayacak.

@alig.20

5 жыл бұрын

@@theresecoco1887 Dont worry, I will defend Hagia Sophia from being a mosque. It will remain as museum for ever.

@GD-bm1bu

4 жыл бұрын

Erdinç Birisi Erdinç bizi yabancılara rezil ediyorsun hiçbir şekilde cami olmayacak demis kendisi rezil olmuş :)

@GD-bm1bu

4 жыл бұрын

@@alig.20 they won't trust you anymore you didn't keep your promise shame on you :)

@alig.20

3 жыл бұрын

@@GD-bm1bu wait till 2023 election :DDD