The Inter-noise conference which I was attending in Istanbul went well and there were sessions for building acoustics or room acoustics everyday which was brilliant. In all, there were 1000 participants from 50 countries around the world. I never know who I will see at the conferences and therefore I am always pleased to see people that I know. There were several professors from DTU at the conference as well as people who I have met at prior conferences. Plus I had the chance to meet most of the people who are publishing in my area of research which is one of the main reasons to attend the conferences. I am always exhausted at the end of a day of listening to presentations and speaking with people during the coffee breaks because you have to be on the whole time. But it is certainly worth it for the chance to learn what other people are researching.
There is always a banquet at a conference and this year it was held at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in the old town part of the city. We traveled to the old town by bus and entered the gates of the Topkapi Palace beyond which was a beautiful grass covered and tree lined courtyard. We walked along one of the stone walkways down to the museum and were greeted by about 100 tables ringed by chairs wrapped in cloth which was tied in a bow on the back.
We were told that the museum would remain open for twenty minutes so that we could have a 
private viewing and so we quickly entered the large, stone building. The award-winning museum has been undergoing renovation throughout the past decade, winning the Council of Europe’s Museum Award in 1993. The museum contains numerous works carved from stone including the very ornate Alexander the Great sarcophagus which was so named because it was believed to be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great because he is featured prominently in several of the scenes carved into the sides of the sarcophagus. However, after the sarcophagus was named, it was found that the resident was not Alexander the Great but someone else. Nonetheless, it is an amazing piece of work. The museum also contains the first written peace treaty in the world, concluded after the Battle of Kadesh fought between Ramses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Muvatallish in the 13th century BC. The treaty itself is written on stone tablets. If you are ever in Istanbul, the museum is certainly worth a visit.
As we exited the museum, we were met by waiters with trays of drinks and tables spread out in the courtyard with hors d'oeuvre including the best green olives that I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously, they were amazing and I fear that they have absolutely ruined the now tasteless olives that I grew up with. During the dinner, entertainment was provided in the form of dances. The very first dance was performed by members of the Mevlevi Order.
The Mevlevi Order or the Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi in 1273 in present-day Turkey. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of Allah). The ritual whirling of the dervishes is described as an act of love and a drama of faith. The whirling possesses a highly structured form within which the gentle turns become increasingly dynamic as the individual dervishes strive to achieve a state of trance. The music that accompanies the whirling from beginning to end ranges from somber to rhapsodical and its effect is intended to be mesmerizing. It is said that the chanting of poetry, rhythmic rotation, and incessant music create a synthesis which, according to the faithful, induces a feeling of soaring, of ecstasy, of mystical flight.
As the Whirling Dervishes were introduced, we were all asked to stop eating and talking out of respect for the dancers and then drums and flutes began to play their mesmerizing tune and the Whirling Dervishes who were dressed in white robes with long, cylindrical headpieces began to spin. At the start of the spinning, they had their arms folded across their chests, but soon they raised their arms so that their bodies were in the shape of a Y. They held this pose for the rest of the whirling. The whirling went on and on for quite a while as they shuffled their feet to keep themselves in motion. It was interesting to watch.
The morning after the conference ended, I arranged to meet my friend and colleague, Lars-Göran from Sweden at the Blue Mosque in the old town. It took me an hour to get to the old town via the
funicular and tram, but it was an interesting way to travel rather than to take a taxi. The Blue Mosque with its domes, semidonmes and six slender minarets is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Istanbul. The mosque is so named for the blue tiles on many of the walls of the interior. The Blue Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet I to placate Allah after humiliating defeats of wars with Persia. He ordered Architect Mehmet Pa?a to begin construction in 1609 and the whole complex was completed in 1616. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. When the number of minarets at the Blue Mosque was revealed, the Sultan was criticized for presumption, since this was, at the time, the same number as at the mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca. He overcame this problem by paying for a seventh minaret at the Mecca mosque.
I had expected to have to queue to enter the mosque, but we were able to join the other tourists passing the long line of sinks on the side of the mosque to arrive at a side door. The sinks or ablution fountains are for people who are getting prepared to pray in the mosque. Before praying, one should wash his/her face, arms, neck and feet as well as their mouth and nose. Signs near the side entrance to the mosque noted that women were to cover their bare heads, arms and legs and everyone was to remove their shoes. Shawls were provided if needed and plastic bags were available so that you could easily carry your shoes with you. As you approached the door, your feet welcomed a very thick carpet which was over the entire floor of the mosque.
The mosque is nearly a square and covered with a dome that is 24m in diameter and 43m high.
The dome is supported by four colossal columns which are 5m in diameter. These "elephant feet" consist of multiple convex marble grooves at their base, while the upper half is painted, separated from the base by an inscriptive band with gilded words. The mosque has 260 windows which let the sunlight diffuse into the building and today are assisted by chandeliers. At its lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles. At the upper levels, the walls are painted.
A three foot high gate which ran the length of the mosque separated the tourists from the area where prayers were said. On the far end was a staircase which led up to the minber, or pulpit, where the Imam stands when he is delivering his sermon at the time of noon prayer on Fridays or on holy days. However, the priest never climbs to the very top as a respect to Prophet Muhammed.
The Blue Mosque is open to visitors outside of prayer times. The prayers occur five times a day and the times rotate according to the sun’s position.
After leaving the Blue Mosque, I bid farewell to Lars-Göran who had to go to the airport to catch his flight home and I went over to see the Aya Sofia which is next door to the Blue Mosque. The Aya Sofia is not as ornate as the Blue Mosque, but it is important to remember that it predates the Blue Mosque by 1000 years and is a marvel of engineering.
The Aya Sofia or “Church of Divine Wisdom” was constructed between 532 and 537 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian as a monument to Christianity and the rise of the eastern Roman 
empire. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focus point of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire for nearly 1000 years. The Aya Sofia remained for centuries the biggest church in the world only being surpassed by the church of St Peter in Rome several centuries later. The dome of Aya Sofia is a spectacular feat of architecture especially considering the limited building methods that were available at the time of construction. The massive dome was designed to give the visitor an impression of the greatness of God and until it was completed, no one was sure that it could actually stand. Only the best materials were used for building the Aya Sofia, including marble walls and flooring and gold wall and ceiling decorations. More than ten thousand people were employed during this construction.
Unfortunately, Istanbul is located on a fault line. Earthquakes in 553 and 557 caused cracks in the main dome and the eastern half-dome to appear. The main dome collapsed completely during an earthquake on 7 May 558. The emperor ordered an immediate restoration. This time, the architect used lighter materials and elevated the dome by 6.25 meters, thus giving the building its current interior height of 55.60 meters.
In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the
building to be converted into a mosque. The items of Christian worship were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. Islamic features were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans.
Christans claimed that the Aya Sofia was rightfully a church and Muslims claimed that it was a mosque. To end the fighting, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, cleverly transformed the building into a museum. The carpets were removed and the marble floor decorations appeared for the first time in centuries, while the white plaster covering the mosaics was painstakingly removed by expert restorers. The massive church has undergone other renovations over time and even today, the dome was filled with scaffolding as the latest renovation is being completed.
The Aya Sofia was quite busy when I visited and the stairways leading to the second floor were stiflingly hot. However, I was rewarded with great views of the city and of the Blue Mosque through the windows. Touts were all around the entrance and many people wanted to take me to see some sort of cistern that I am sure was next to a carpet store / antique store / postcard shop. I declined.
On Saturday evening, I had the privilege of attending a wedding celebration which was held on a boat cruising the Bosporus. The wedding was between my friends Claus who is Danish and Emine who is Turkish. I knew Claus from DTU and I had met Emine at the Inter-Noise conference in Rio de Janeiro two years prior. The actual marriage ceremony had taken place in Denmark a year before but they wanted to have a second celebration in Turkey for their Turkish friends and family, many of who could not get visas to Denmark. The timing of the conference was not coincidental because both Claus and Emine are acousticians and knew that a lot of people would be in town for the conference.
In the invitation which had been sent out, the guests had been given two locations for pickup by the boat, one on the Asian side and one on the European side. I opted to take the funicular to the dock and so left plenty of time for the trip, just in case something went wrong because I did not want to miss the boat. I was so punctual in fact, that I was an hour early. I knew that I was in the right place because I saw other wedding parties boarding boats, but it was a relief once other guests who I recognized began to show up a half an hour after I arrived. A short time later, the bride and groom arrived shortly after that in their wedding dress and tuxedo. Claus’s family from Denmark had come as well as a lot of Emine’s classmates from Aalborg University where she had gone to school in Denmark.
Once the boat arrived, everyone boarded and there were drinks and hors d'oeuvres on the top deck as we set sail. After a while, everyone was invited downstairs to where dinner was to be served. There wasn’t actually a wedding ceremony as one had already occurred which was disappointing because that would have been really interesting. But, the dinner was a lot of fun. I was at a table with a professor from DTU and his partner as well as several women who were friends of Emine from high school and a friend from Istanbul. Dinner was a buffet and included lots of food and lots of sticky desserts. Afterwards there was dancing to Turkish music as the boat moved up and down the river until it was time to go. Most people got off on the European side and after goodbyes, I head off in a taxi with a few of Emine’s friends to Taksim square where they were going out for the evening. I was invited to go out with them and in hindsight, it probably would have been fun, but my mind was on packing for my flight in the morning and I didn’t want to be out in the rain in my suit for long since it would soon be stuffed into the bottom of my backpack for a few weeks.
The next morning, I had my last breakfast at the hotel and met my ride to the airport which had been arranged through the conference. The Istanbul airport was large and busy and had a security checkpoint as soon as you entered the door for people and bags which I haven’t decided is a comforting or worrisome thing. I had a Leatherman in the bag that I was going to check and when security saw it, they asked to make sure that I would check the bag. Once I told them that I would check it, everything was fine. I was a bit surprised by this and was pleased that Lufthansa had a second security checkpoint at the gate. I had a bit of trouble at check in because my carryon was too heavy. This was the first time that I had my carry on weighed and I was in trouble because I was carrying both my laptop and my SLR with its heavy lens in the same bag. But, it worked itself out and later that afternoon I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany.
The following were referenced for information about the Blue Mosque
Guide Istanbul
Wikipedia
There is always a banquet at a conference and this year it was held at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in the old town part of the city. We traveled to the old town by bus and entered the gates of the Topkapi Palace beyond which was a beautiful grass covered and tree lined courtyard. We walked along one of the stone walkways down to the museum and were greeted by about 100 tables ringed by chairs wrapped in cloth which was tied in a bow on the back.
private viewing and so we quickly entered the large, stone building. The award-winning museum has been undergoing renovation throughout the past decade, winning the Council of Europe’s Museum Award in 1993. The museum contains numerous works carved from stone including the very ornate Alexander the Great sarcophagus which was so named because it was believed to be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great because he is featured prominently in several of the scenes carved into the sides of the sarcophagus. However, after the sarcophagus was named, it was found that the resident was not Alexander the Great but someone else. Nonetheless, it is an amazing piece of work. The museum also contains the first written peace treaty in the world, concluded after the Battle of Kadesh fought between Ramses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Muvatallish in the 13th century BC. The treaty itself is written on stone tablets. If you are ever in Istanbul, the museum is certainly worth a visit.As we exited the museum, we were met by waiters with trays of drinks and tables spread out in the courtyard with hors d'oeuvre including the best green olives that I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously, they were amazing and I fear that they have absolutely ruined the now tasteless olives that I grew up with. During the dinner, entertainment was provided in the form of dances. The very first dance was performed by members of the Mevlevi Order.
The Mevlevi Order or the Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi in 1273 in present-day Turkey. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of Allah). The ritual whirling of the dervishes is described as an act of love and a drama of faith. The whirling possesses a highly structured form within which the gentle turns become increasingly dynamic as the individual dervishes strive to achieve a state of trance. The music that accompanies the whirling from beginning to end ranges from somber to rhapsodical and its effect is intended to be mesmerizing. It is said that the chanting of poetry, rhythmic rotation, and incessant music create a synthesis which, according to the faithful, induces a feeling of soaring, of ecstasy, of mystical flight.
As the Whirling Dervishes were introduced, we were all asked to stop eating and talking out of respect for the dancers and then drums and flutes began to play their mesmerizing tune and the Whirling Dervishes who were dressed in white robes with long, cylindrical headpieces began to spin. At the start of the spinning, they had their arms folded across their chests, but soon they raised their arms so that their bodies were in the shape of a Y. They held this pose for the rest of the whirling. The whirling went on and on for quite a while as they shuffled their feet to keep themselves in motion. It was interesting to watch.
The morning after the conference ended, I arranged to meet my friend and colleague, Lars-Göran from Sweden at the Blue Mosque in the old town. It took me an hour to get to the old town via the
funicular and tram, but it was an interesting way to travel rather than to take a taxi. The Blue Mosque with its domes, semidonmes and six slender minarets is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Istanbul. The mosque is so named for the blue tiles on many of the walls of the interior. The Blue Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet I to placate Allah after humiliating defeats of wars with Persia. He ordered Architect Mehmet Pa?a to begin construction in 1609 and the whole complex was completed in 1616. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. When the number of minarets at the Blue Mosque was revealed, the Sultan was criticized for presumption, since this was, at the time, the same number as at the mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca. He overcame this problem by paying for a seventh minaret at the Mecca mosque.I had expected to have to queue to enter the mosque, but we were able to join the other tourists passing the long line of sinks on the side of the mosque to arrive at a side door. The sinks or ablution fountains are for people who are getting prepared to pray in the mosque. Before praying, one should wash his/her face, arms, neck and feet as well as their mouth and nose. Signs near the side entrance to the mosque noted that women were to cover their bare heads, arms and legs and everyone was to remove their shoes. Shawls were provided if needed and plastic bags were available so that you could easily carry your shoes with you. As you approached the door, your feet welcomed a very thick carpet which was over the entire floor of the mosque.
The mosque is nearly a square and covered with a dome that is 24m in diameter and 43m high.
The dome is supported by four colossal columns which are 5m in diameter. These "elephant feet" consist of multiple convex marble grooves at their base, while the upper half is painted, separated from the base by an inscriptive band with gilded words. The mosque has 260 windows which let the sunlight diffuse into the building and today are assisted by chandeliers. At its lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles. At the upper levels, the walls are painted.
The Blue Mosque is open to visitors outside of prayer times. The prayers occur five times a day and the times rotate according to the sun’s position.
After leaving the Blue Mosque, I bid farewell to Lars-Göran who had to go to the airport to catch his flight home and I went over to see the Aya Sofia which is next door to the Blue Mosque. The Aya Sofia is not as ornate as the Blue Mosque, but it is important to remember that it predates the Blue Mosque by 1000 years and is a marvel of engineering.
empire. It was the patriarchal church of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focus point of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire for nearly 1000 years. The Aya Sofia remained for centuries the biggest church in the world only being surpassed by the church of St Peter in Rome several centuries later. The dome of Aya Sofia is a spectacular feat of architecture especially considering the limited building methods that were available at the time of construction. The massive dome was designed to give the visitor an impression of the greatness of God and until it was completed, no one was sure that it could actually stand. Only the best materials were used for building the Aya Sofia, including marble walls and flooring and gold wall and ceiling decorations. More than ten thousand people were employed during this construction.Unfortunately, Istanbul is located on a fault line. Earthquakes in 553 and 557 caused cracks in the main dome and the eastern half-dome to appear. The main dome collapsed completely during an earthquake on 7 May 558. The emperor ordered an immediate restoration. This time, the architect used lighter materials and elevated the dome by 6.25 meters, thus giving the building its current interior height of 55.60 meters.
In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the
building to be converted into a mosque. The items of Christian worship were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. Islamic features were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. Christans claimed that the Aya Sofia was rightfully a church and Muslims claimed that it was a mosque. To end the fighting, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, cleverly transformed the building into a museum. The carpets were removed and the marble floor decorations appeared for the first time in centuries, while the white plaster covering the mosaics was painstakingly removed by expert restorers. The massive church has undergone other renovations over time and even today, the dome was filled with scaffolding as the latest renovation is being completed.
The Aya Sofia was quite busy when I visited and the stairways leading to the second floor were stiflingly hot. However, I was rewarded with great views of the city and of the Blue Mosque through the windows. Touts were all around the entrance and many people wanted to take me to see some sort of cistern that I am sure was next to a carpet store / antique store / postcard shop. I declined.
On Saturday evening, I had the privilege of attending a wedding celebration which was held on a boat cruising the Bosporus. The wedding was between my friends Claus who is Danish and Emine who is Turkish. I knew Claus from DTU and I had met Emine at the Inter-Noise conference in Rio de Janeiro two years prior. The actual marriage ceremony had taken place in Denmark a year before but they wanted to have a second celebration in Turkey for their Turkish friends and family, many of who could not get visas to Denmark. The timing of the conference was not coincidental because both Claus and Emine are acousticians and knew that a lot of people would be in town for the conference.
Once the boat arrived, everyone boarded and there were drinks and hors d'oeuvres on the top deck as we set sail. After a while, everyone was invited downstairs to where dinner was to be served. There wasn’t actually a wedding ceremony as one had already occurred which was disappointing because that would have been really interesting. But, the dinner was a lot of fun. I was at a table with a professor from DTU and his partner as well as several women who were friends of Emine from high school and a friend from Istanbul. Dinner was a buffet and included lots of food and lots of sticky desserts. Afterwards there was dancing to Turkish music as the boat moved up and down the river until it was time to go. Most people got off on the European side and after goodbyes, I head off in a taxi with a few of Emine’s friends to Taksim square where they were going out for the evening. I was invited to go out with them and in hindsight, it probably would have been fun, but my mind was on packing for my flight in the morning and I didn’t want to be out in the rain in my suit for long since it would soon be stuffed into the bottom of my backpack for a few weeks.The next morning, I had my last breakfast at the hotel and met my ride to the airport which had been arranged through the conference. The Istanbul airport was large and busy and had a security checkpoint as soon as you entered the door for people and bags which I haven’t decided is a comforting or worrisome thing. I had a Leatherman in the bag that I was going to check and when security saw it, they asked to make sure that I would check the bag. Once I told them that I would check it, everything was fine. I was a bit surprised by this and was pleased that Lufthansa had a second security checkpoint at the gate. I had a bit of trouble at check in because my carryon was too heavy. This was the first time that I had my carry on weighed and I was in trouble because I was carrying both my laptop and my SLR with its heavy lens in the same bag. But, it worked itself out and later that afternoon I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany.
The following were referenced for information about the Blue Mosque
Guide Istanbul
Wikipedia
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