In the awful morning of the 29th of May 1453, Hagia Sophia was crowded with women, children and elder people, who were watching their life's last service. When the Ottomans arrived shouting outside the church the heavy door was bolted. At first they tried to open it by clanking their swords on it and pushing it with their bodies, but it was strongly resisting. Then they were rushing and striking it with heavy wooden beams.

The great massacre

A group exclamation was being heard from the inside of the church after every beating. The beatings were even more painful than nails sinking straight to the heart.

At a moment the door broke down and two entirely different worlds were found face to face with each other. Who knows for how long the bewilderment and the startle lasted, till the beginning of the massacre.

Greek blood was flowing like a river on the floors and the stairs of the martyr church. Up on the women’s loft, where lots of people were hiding, a horrible bloodshed took place. Those who were killed first were lucky, as their agony only lasted for a while.

The few people who survived were distributed as if they were spoils and ended up working as slaves. All married couples were separated and all children were snatched from their mother's embrace.

By noon the massacre was over and not a sound was being heard. Only stripped corpses of Greeks and bare walls were left, everything else had been plundered.

Sacred place

The millions of tourists coming from all over the world to visit Hagia Sophia do not know how sacred this place is, due to the big massacre of the 29th of May 1453. They can't even suspect the scenes of absolute barbarity and horror that took place into this church.

Only the Greeks bow their heads when entering Hagia Sophia and feel like having a burden in their hearts.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com