A sunrise creeping into existence over a church in Rome. A sunset drawing the day to a close over a mosque in Istanbul. When considering the theme of cultural identity through the eyes of a foreigner, through my own eyes, I could not think of a better way to compare Rome and Istanbul than through their strong religious associations. I also wanted to capture the idea of time relative to my experience in these cities. The trip began in Rome, if it could ever be described as a single day the sun would of course rise there, and the trip ended in Istanbul, meaning that the sun would set there. I believe these two photographs encapsulate not only the experience of time during this trip, but also the recognition that Rome and Istanbul have identified themselves in past and present times as major centers of religious culture.
Rome and Istanbul are very similar in that one cannot walk down the street for very long without seeing a church or mosque respectively. In the center of Rome exists the Vatican State, an autonomous country that represents the center of the entire Roman Catholic Church. For thousands of years pilgrims and tourists have flocked to Rome to visit and view the Vatican, and as a result it is easy to understand why the influence of the Church could not be contained within the Vatican walls. The Church integrated itself into the very fabric of Roman society, for example converting old Roman temples of Pagan worship into churches, as we saw in the Roman forum, and commissioning Rome’s finest artists to create beautiful masterpieces with religious subjects. Although not every site we visited during our Art History tours was directly connected to the Church, its influence was never far away. It is hard not to associate Rome’s identity with the Church, when the majority of the most beautiful monuments and buildings in Rome have Papal crests dawned on them.
Although Istanbul is not the center of the Islamic faith as Rome is the center of the Roman Catholic Faith, the presence of Islam within the city is just as pronounced. Istanbul is a very large city with around 13 million inhabitants, and due to the fact that 90% of that population is Muslim, the city needs a very large network of mosques, 2300 of them to be specific, to handle all of its Islamic followers. As a foreigner in Istanbul, especially coming from Seattle where the Islamic population isn’t very large, I was blown away by the amount of mosques in the city. It was also a very interesting experience for me to hear the Muslim call to prayer for the first time. Through our travels and lectures in Istanbul I realized that one of the main reasons why Islam has such a strong presence in Istanbul, is because Islam has had such strong ties to the rulers of Istanbul for thousands of years. I believe that this is one of the most important comparisons between Rome and Istanbul; both cities allow religion to have a strong influence over their ruling powers. Unlike in Rome though, where some of the major monuments we visited have no religious affiliation, every major monument we visited in Istanbul had ties to Islam.
Whether walking down a street in Rome and hearing church bells ringing from all directions, or sitting in a café in Istanbul and hearing the call to prayer from all directions; whether viewing a sunrise in Rome over a church, or a sunset in Istanbul over a mosque; it is very clear to any foreigner in these two cities that religion plays a very strong role in their identities.
