In another letter to Philip Whalen GS (he’s working as a seaman) comments (The Gary Snyder Reader page 154):
"At Napoli went out to Pompeii & mounted a bit up Vesuvio.
Seeing historical monuments first hand does have a bit of thrill in it. But Istanbul is more entertaining & Sophia is inexpressibly religious and vast."
Later in the same letter:
"Expect to be in U.S. around 1 April; full of devilish devices & rather wealthy.
Justinian says, running into his just-completed Sophia,
HO SOLOMON, I HAVE SURPASSED THEE."
Another letter (ibid. page 158) from Kyoto, 9.1.61:
"We saw the Big Daddy Buddha (first time for me) at Todaiji, which is truly enormous. Palm of the hand six feet long, etc. But it is not beautiful or moving. & one can’t help wondering why they ever wanted to put so much bronze in one pile, seeing as how bronze has other uses. Biggest wood building in the world (supposed) housing it–a magnificent structure–but somehow lacking, at least for me, Sancta Sophia is more a "Buddhist" temple. More presence in the void. Maybe because of that great empty dome."
For a thousand years a Christian church, for six hundred years a mosque, and for GS a Buddhist temple: that’s not bad going for Sancta Sophia.
One of the stunning mosaics from Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofia)
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