One of the old­est and largest cathe­drals in the world hid a fan­tas­tic secret for cen­turies, one that was often rumored but not con­firmed. The vast, splen­did Hagia Sophia, which is now a museum, sits atop an ancient series of under­ground tun­nels said to con­nect the cathe­dral with the Basil­ica Cis­tern, Princes’ Islands and Top­kapi Palace. Direc­tor Gök­sel Gülen­soy has enjoyed a long-standing love of the Hagia Sophia, and he decided to embark on a scuba div­ing expe­di­tion under the build­ing to unlock some of her ancient secrets.

Gülen­soy began his doc­u­men­tary project in 1998, but bud­get con­cerns and Turk­ish gov­ern­ment red tape delayed its com­ple­tion until late 2009. His 50-minute film, “In the Depths of Hagia Sophia” (or “Ayasofya’nin Derin­lik­lerinde”) shows a side of the his­toric struc­ture that has never before been explored in depth, let alone filmed. Along with two divers and four spe­lunk­ers, the direc­tor delved into the mys­te­ri­ous depths to see what, exactly, Hagia Sophia was hiding.

The team began by open­ing the reser­voir doors in the main hall; the two doors had both been shut for quite some time, and never before had a diver been allowed into the reser­voir. After study­ing the small first cham­ber, the team moved on to the larger sec­ond reser­voir. There they found flasks thought to have been left behind by British sol­diers in 1917, a chain which may have con­tained a pris­oner at one time, and var­i­ous other bits and pieces of the cathe­dral. The spe­lunk­ers then took over and moved into the two pas­sage­ways beneath the Hagia Sophia.

Beneath the huge cathe­dral, the team found sealed pas­sages, a grave­yard full of children’s bones, and the bur­ial cham­ber of Hagia Sophia’s first priest. Threats of gas leaks, land­slides and col­lapses weighed heav­ily on everyone’s minds, but the entire team emerged safely. For their own peace of mind, and to head off any rumors that might arise in the future, every per­son who dove beneath Hagia Sophia that day under­went a full-body X-ray to prove that no arti­facts had been removed from the site.

After the project, it became clear that Gülen­soy and his team had dis­proven many of the myths sur­round­ing the ancient cathe­dral. The pas­sages long thought to lead to the Basil­ica Cis­tern and Princes’ Islands were found to be nonex­is­tent. How­ever, the explo­ration led Turk­ish offi­cials and the Hagia Sophia Museum Direc­tor to believe that fur­ther research should be car­ried out to see what other mys­ter­ies may be hid­ing beneath this beloved build­ing. If he can gain the nec­es­sary gov­ern­ment per­mis­sions, Gülen­soy plans to return to make another film about the hid­den his­tory of Hagia Sophia.

Source: url.yibul.com/ayasofya

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