"Sacred and Secular Mix in Turkey’s Museums
Nichole Sobecki for The New York Times
Tourists amid Ottoman tiles at the Topkapi Palace, where the sultans once lived. The palace is now a museum, whose sacred relics include hairs said to be from Muhammad’s beard. More Photos »
By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Published: May 25, 2010
ISTANBUL — If you stand in the center of the Hagia Sophia here and gaze upward at what is one of the world’s tallest domes, you can be staggered by the overlapping layers of ruination and grandeur in this Church of Holy Wisdom. And I don’t just mean the scaling paint, the scaffolding promising overdue restorations, the haunting mosaics disclosed under layers of plaster."
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