Thursday, 10 August 2017

Hiram Usta Heykeli

Hiram Usta Heykeli 

Turkiye Ziraat Bankasi'nin Ayasofya muzesi'ne bakan cephesinde bulunan terasinin her iki kenarinda batida kadin, doguda ise erkek olmak uzere iki adet insan heykeli yer almaktadir.
Heykellerin her ikisi de, tek dizleri ustune comelmis ikiser adetde erkek cocuk heykeleri ile sarilmislar.   
Hiram Usta
Cocuklarin arasinda dimdik ayakta durarak bir kompozisyon olusturan heykellerden kadin olaninin uzerinde, uzun bir elbise bulunmaktadir.   Kisa ve duzgun saclari bulunan kadin heykelinin, her iki elini gogus seviyesine kadar kaldirmis olan heykelin sol eli bir cisim tutuyormus gibi gozukuyorsa da bu el bostur veya zamanla tuttugu cisim kirilmistir.  

Erkek heykelin onu ip kusakla bagli uzun ve duz bir elbise giymektedir, uzun ve gur sakalli heykeli de, her iki elini gogus seviyesine kadar kaldirmis ve sag elinde bir cekik ve sol elinde ise bir keski tutmaktadır.  
Bu heykellerin mason localarinin kutsal kadin ve erkek kisisi, “dul kadin” ile oglu “Hiram Usta” oldugunu ileri surmektedirler.  
Birde, “dul kadinin cocuklari, masonlari ifade eder” ve tum mason localari uyelerinin kutsal dul kadini sembolik anneleri olarak kabul ettiklerini ve bu iki kutsal kisi etrafında birlestiklerini ortaya koymaktadırlar.
Bu video'tu İstanbul’da Galata koprusunun onundeki Ziraat bankasinin terasindaki heykeller ve etrafini Karakoy mahallesi ben kendim cektim, link'ide asagida.  
Saygilarimla, 

Monday, 7 August 2017

Kalenderhane Mosque

Kalenderhane Mosque
Kalenderhane Mosque is a former Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul, converted into a mosque by the Ottomans.   The church, when built was originally dedicated to the Theotokos Kyriotissa, meaning Virgin the mother of God.
Kalenderhane Mosque
Built on top of a fifth or sixth century Roman bath complex, the Church of Theotokos Kyriotissa was built in the twelfth century during the Komnenian Dynasty and functioned as a Greek Orthodox Byzantine church until 1453.  In 1453, after the conquest of Constantinople the church was assigned to the Kalenderi Dervishes and they used the structure as a zaviye (Islamic religious school) and imaret (soup kitchen).


In 1746, Haci Besir Aga - chief eunuch of the Topkapi Palace converted the church into a mosque by adding mihrab, minbar, and mahfil.  The structure was restored several times due to the fires that took place in the late nineteenth century.


This is my video filmed in August of 2017 of the interior (hyperlinked below), there is a second video of the exterior, (please find it in YouTube as well), enjoy. 



Saturday, 5 August 2017

Haci Suleyman Bey Ilk Okulu

Haci Suleyman Bey Ilk Okulu
Haci Suleyman Bey Ilk Okulu is an elementary school located at Cibali area of Haydar neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey.  It is the school that I attended for grade 2 and grade 3 around the years 1978 and 1979.  I have wonderful memories while attending this school and living in this area.  

Haci Suleyman Bey Ilk Okulu
The phone number of the school is:
0212-521-1126. The address is: Cibali mahallesi, Mustakbel sair baki sokak, no 7, Fatih, Istanbul.  Here is a short video of the surroundings and of the school itself I filmed in August of 2017, the link of the YouTube video is below, enjoy. https://youtu.be/djb0RyPIKaU

Take care, 

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Haydarpasa Terminal

Haydarpasa Terminal
Istanbul Haydarpasa Terminal was a railway terminal in Istanbul (Asian side of the big city) and until 2012 the station was a major intercity, regional and commuter rail hub, as well as the busiest railway station in Turkey.  

Haydarpasa Terminal


The neo-classical Haydarpasa station / building, was built by Sultan Abdulhamit in 1906 to 1908 and its purpose was to connect the eastern lands of the Ottoman Empire to the capital of Istanbul.  


The foundation is on 1,100 wooden piles, each 21 meters (69 feet) long, driven into the mushy shore by steam hammer.


This building has a deep history in the Turkish culture as it represents a passage from the urban eastern lands to the new west.   


This video was filmed while on a ferry boat travelling from Eminonu (European side of the city) to Kadikoy (Asian side).  Enjoy, the YouTube link of the video is below.

Thank you for visiting, 



Thursday, 27 July 2017

Misafirin hayirlisi, haberli gelendir.

Misafir'in Hayirlisi

Bugun sizinle guzel bir atasozu'muzu paylasmak istiyorum ve bu sozu ingilizceye cevirecegim.   Ilk once atasozu'muz:

Misafir'in hayirlisi, haberli gelendir. 

Misafir


Ne kadar dogru bir soz degilmi?

Simdide ingilizcesi:
A guest (to your home) is welcome, that comes with an advance notice.  

Saygi ve sincerely,

Sunday, 23 July 2017

Awaara is Avare in Türkish and Vagabond in English

Awaara is Avare in Türkish and Vagabond in English 

My father told me a few times of a movie he watched when he was about five years old.   He went in detail of how the movie and the song within that movie was such a big smash hit.  He even sang verses from the song.  

Today, I heard the song in that movie and therefore looked up the movie on YouTube.  My father came to my mind...
 My father was right, the song and movie was very entertaining and I wanted to inform everyone who might never have known of this jewel of a movie.  

Awara

Awaara was a Brilliant Indian movie made in the year 1951.  It is also titled the Vagabond in many western countries.  It is directed, produced and stars the legendary Raj Kapoor.  The film's music was composed by Shantar Jaikishan, and the main titled song Awaara was sung by Mukesh, but lip-singed in the movie by Raj Kapoor.

The film centers on the life of poor vagabond Raj (Kapoor) and his love interest, who comes from a wealthy and elite family.  
The film was an overnight sensation in South Asia, and found success abroad in the rest of the world.  In particular, the song Awaara, which was sung by Mukesh with lyrics by Shailendra, became hugely popular across Indian subcontinent and surrounding countries of Soviet Union, China, Turkey and Afghanistan.  
The film was also nominated for the Grand Prize of the Cannes Film Festival in the year 1953.  Owing to its popularity in so many countries, the film is a candidate for most successful film of all time and has been included in the All-time 100 Greatest films by Time magazine.  
I have included the YouTube link below of the movie, take time out from your busy lives and try to watch this movie.  
Enjoy, 
Sincerely,


Montreal in July

Montreal in July

We were in Montreal on July 23, 2017, since we were connecting to Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul at 11:05 pm.  

Montreal Airport

We stayed in Montreal for 15 hours and even though that sounds like a long delay, it did not feel as long, since it was the first time I stepped foot in Montreal airport, and everything looked welcoming.  

One very important and positive point to note was that Montreal airport was more compact (smaller) than Toronto airport, therefore we did not have to travel a long distance inside the airport to catch the next flight.   We liked this.  Sometimes smaller is better. 

Thank you,