Hagia Eirene

As I promised, I finally had an opportunity to get inside the ancient Hagia Eirene. There has been a Mozart 250 celebration here in the city, and as is customary here, many of the concerts were held in this grand old church. It was a perfect place for such a concert, with great acoustics and an atmosphere that is second to none. Surprisingly, for a city of nearly 15 million, it was relatively unattended. The impression I get (based on a very superficial survey) is that a classical musician in lowly Winnipeg at 700,000 is busier and of a better quality then one here; there was not even a conductor. In total there was about the same number of concert goers as a Tuesday night chamber performance by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. Now all we need is a 1500 year old church. I hope that shortly this church will be reinstated as a church so that it can reclaim its former glory. The main problem, however, is that there are relatively few Greeks left in the city on account of the population exchange that has occurred over the last couple of generations, of which Sirin family were a part of. Nevertheless, this church could stand as a place of pilgrimage as it deserves.