Religious Studies School Trips to Istanbul

Religious studies school trips to Istanbul take students to a city that has stood on the border between cultures and religions for thousands of years. Standing in the Hagia Sofia, visiting the sacred Eyüp Sultan Mosque, descending beneath the city into the Basilica Cistern where the Medusa-head columns hearken back to ancient Greek religion — all of this and more will give religious studies groups an insight into the interactions between religions throughout history and into the present day.

Hagia Sofia

The first stop for many visitors to Istanbul, whether tourists or students, is the Hagia Sofia, which embodies the ever-changing history of the city’s religion. Built in the 6th century AD as an Eastern Orthodox church, it experienced a brief period in the 13th century AD as a Roman Catholic church and was then converted to a mosque after the Ottoman Turks took the city in 1453 AD. In the 20th century it was secularised and became a museum, but its history remains on its walls in the remnants of Byzantine mosaics on the walls, the mihrab in the apse, the medallions on the walls bearing the names of Muhammad and the first caliphs. It is an excellent introduction to Istanbul’s complex religious history for groups on school trips.

Eyüp Sultan Mosque

Located on the European side of the city, the Eyüp Sultan Mosque was built in 1458 by the Ottoman Turks. It is an especially important mosque in Istanbul and the wider Islamic world. It was built at the legendary burial place of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad in the Arab assault on the city in 670 AD, which makes the mosque and the tomb a site of pilgrimage and worship for numerous Muslims. The Eyüp Sultan Mosque was also the first mosque constructed in the city following the Muslim conquest of Christian Constantinople in 1453 AD. Visiting it on school trips is a step for students into the Muslim past of the city, as well as a veneration of its present.

Medusa in the Basilica Cistern

The history of Istanbul starts in the year 657 BC, when Greek colonists from Megara founded a new city called Byzantion. According to Ancient Greek legend, its name came from a King Byzas who founded the city. The first religion of Istanbul was the Greeks’ polytheistic worship and expansive tradition of myths. A whisper of that past can be seen in the Basilica Cistern, a vast cistern built in the 6th century AD by the Christian Emperor Justinian I. At the back, two pillars are supported on large stone heads of Medusa, the Gorgon of Greek myth. The heads’ origins are unknown, but they are believed to have been recycled from earlier use. That re-use and change is just one piece of the process religious studies students will understand better after visiting Istanbul on school trips.

Angela Bowden works for EST (Equity School Travel), the UK's largest educational travel company, providing school trips for secondary schools, primary schools and colleges. Tours with EST can encompass a wide range of learning opportunities in worldwide destinations.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.