Constantinople was the centre of the eastern churc...

Constantinople was the centre of the eastern church for a millennium. This was our second visit and there was a lot of scaffolding due to the renovations. To my unexpert eye their arm to be three layers of frescoes: very old more primitive images much like those in Cappadocia, later more sophisticated work and covered with beautiful Islamic geometric designs. In many places the different styles have somehow all been restored or plaster discretely removed to reveal the earlier work.

In the gallery there is a mural of Constantine and Eleni. As I looked I could not help but feel his influence and decisions he made rippling thru time to us some 1500 years later: Christianity and empire rolled into one.