The Architecture of Hagia Sophia
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The Voice of the West Village WestView News VOLUME 16, NUMBER 7 AUGUST 2020 $2.00 Turkish President Recreates Ancient Conquest By George Capsis I was a bit surprised at my own shock and, deathbed at his mother’s pleading. yes, anger when I read in the New York Times The language spoken in Byzantium then, that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip now Turkey, was Greek, of course, and many Erdogan had announced that the Turk- Greeks still live in Turkey, with families dat- ish government would again take over the ing back centuries. One of those families 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia—also called is—or more correctly, was—mine. Church of the Holy Wisdom—and use it Very soon after a Greek meets another as a mosque. Greek for the first time, the classic question Turkish newspapers showed crowds pops up, “Where does your family come cheering at regaining something they obvi- from?” If it is from the Peloponnese, the ously feel is a part of their historic tradition largest segment of that island-fragmented going back to the surrender of the Byzantine country, the answer might be “Langadia,” Empire to the Muslim invasion in 1453, which is where my wife’s family came from when Hagia Sophia was converted into a (her maiden name was Geanacopoulos); mosque and remained so until 1934 when but if you ask that question of a Greek it was made into a museum (it has been one whose family came from Turkey, he will of the most frequently visited museums in answer, “My family is from Asia Minor,” the world). because for a Greek the word Turkey is The enormous domed church marked anathema (another Greek word). the beginning of the Eastern Roman and The Capsis family came from a fishing Byzantine Empires and of the Christian THE HAGIA SOPHIA IN ISTANBUL, originally built in 537 has been a recent center of controversy village, named after Saint Paraskevi, which era. Constantine was the first Roman as it was changed by the Turkish government from it being a museum established in 1935 into a fronts the largest and most important har- Emperor to convert to Christianity on his mosque this year. Photo credit: Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0) / Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. continued on page 4 NYU Langone Health Opens New Outpatient Center in Greenwich Village By Deborah Haffeman Village residents can now schedule an appointment with specialists in internal Greenwich Village has a new healthcare medicine, allergy and immunology, car- provider in town. NYU Langone Health diology, gastroenterology, pediatric care, has opened a multispecialty outpatient care and physical medicine and rehabilitation center, located at 555 LaGuardia Place, for through NYU Langone’s nationally recog- adult and pediatric patients. NYU Lan- nized Rusk Rehabilitation. NYU Langone gone Medical Associates—Washington also plans to add specialists in family medi- Square spans approximately 10,000 square cine, gynecology, interventional cardiology, feet, which includes 26 exam rooms and a and pediatric neurology later this year. NYU LANGONE’S new outpatient care center in Washington Square includes a dedicated dedicated pediatric floor. continued on page 3 pediatric floor. Photo: NYU Langone Health. v A Great Loss Bygone Days Virtual Concert Former Attorney General- This highly detailed1868 Ramsey Clark reminisces on map of Manhattan shows Friday August 28, WestView News his long friendship with civil how much the city has presents the Strathmere Ensemble's rights legend John Lewis. changed. WestViewmus iNewsc • Waltzing Around the Village! and the Strathmere Ensemble SEE PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 17 St. invite John’s you to join us for in Waltzingthe Village Around andthe WestView Village! News Present A live streamingStrathmere broadcast Ensemble from inthe a garden of St.Live John’s Streamed in the Village, Memorial brought Day to you All Bachby MUSAE Concert Brandenburg Concerto #5 Friday August 28th, Monday7:30 May pm 25, 4 pm Music of Enjoy this live streamed concert Johannon your computer, Strauss, tablet Antonin or smart Dvorak, phone at Peter Ilyich Tchiakovsky, and www.youtube.com/stjvnySamuel Barber Performed by the Artists:Strathmere Ensemble RobertMitsuru Wolinsky, Tsubota Harpsichord and Karl Kawahara, violins TBA, Flute Louise Schulman, viola Mitsuru Tsubota. Violin Eriko Sato, ViolinDaire FitzGerald, cello Louise Schulman,Jack Viola Kulowitsch, bass Daire Fitzgerald, Cello Jack Kulowitsch, Double Bass BillYou Zito, can Lute join us on any device — phone, tablet, computer, tv TicketsTickets $20 $5 —Free I Just to Seniors Need to and Smile Children, Right Now $10 but– Fan registration of Strathmere is essential Ensemble $20 – SupporterTo buy a ticket of Strathmere or to register, Ensemble $50 or morecontact – Patron [email protected]. of Strathmere Ensemble ST.For JOHN’S tickets and IN information, THE VILLAGE go to at the cornerbit.ly/strathmere-waltz of West 11th and Waverly Place 2 WestView News August 2020 www.westviewnews.org WestView WestViews Published by WestView, Inc. by and for the residents of the Correspondence, Commentary, Corrections West Village. Publisher's Apology Remembering a Neighbor out of the way of approaching trains mov- Publisher Dear Readers of WestView News, I have been a West Village resident for ing at 6 mph. The elevated tracks, now Executive Editor I received three letters from our treasured more than 20 years and have been a fan of known as the High Line, were built in George Capsis readers regarding the poem “Code Blue.” I your newspaper until your June issue. On 1934 by the New York Central Railroad to Managing Editor and Art Director apologize to our community for offending the second page of said issue, there was a reach the St. John's Rail Freight Depot as Kim Plosia and frightening some of you by publishing small article entitled “Suicide at 45 Chris- opposed to the St. John Truck Terminal on Advertising Manager and Designer this poem. I am sorry to say that the poem topher Street.” I am shocked by the lack of West Houston Street. Construction of the Stephanie Phelan slipped through the cracks three times, and compassion that was shown in this article rail depot destroyed one of the city's most Traffic Manager Liza Whiting was placed in the paper because it was the to a beloved West Village resident. beautiful parks, St. John's Park, and de- right length to fill empty space on the page. First of all, the fact that the person who stroyed 20 trees and the front porch of the Photo Editor It wasn’t read carefully when we first received “reported” the incident to you seemed only elegant church that stood there until 1918. Darielle Smolian it, and it somehow missed the editing process concerned with having to “get it cleaned up” After building Grand Central Terminal, he Photographers that would have ensured a careful reading. was appalling. Second, the fact that you sent abandoned St. John's Park. The last owner Maggie Berkvist The paper is produced by volunteers and the a photographer to the scene tells me that of the railroad was Peter Obletz, a West Chris Manis Art Director was under tremendous stress in you were just looking for a sensational pho- Village resident who bought it from CSX Associate Editors her personal life—and the pressures of get- to, rather than truly trying to find out why Railroad for a dollar. With Congressman Justin Matthews, Anne Olshansky ting the paper to the printer—and didn’t read our neighbor took her own life. Jerry Nadler's support he hoped to restore Comptroller the poem before placing it. I can see how Third, the information your photographer rail freight, but the industries that would Jolanta Meckauskaite this poem seemed disturbing and out of sync received “from a friend who lived nearby” use it were long gone. Architecture Editor with the sentiment of our times. Indeed, even was incorrect on many points: the death was Meanwhile, traffic to and from the piers Brian Pape a betrayal of your trust, because you don’t ex- not reported to the police by a neighbor but conflicted with increasing traffic along the Business Editor pect to find this type of material in the paper. rather by her bereaved husband immediately waterfront. Manhattan Borough President, Caroline Benveniste I offer sincere apologies and regrets. Thank upon seeing his poor wife’s body below their Julius Miller, built the elevated highway to Fashion Editor you to those who wrote to me. window; she did not have the coronavirus, relieve this congestion. In my fifty years in Karen Rempel —George Capsis, Publisher but she did experience the fear, anxiety and the West Village it was always known as Film and Media Editor Letter #1 isolation that so many have felt during this the Miller Highway. The elevated highway Jim Fouratt Not only is Code Blue a very bad poem, but quarantine; and to say that she had “mental destroyed the West Washington Market Music and Eldercare Editor it is racist. If WestView is concerned about this problems”—an absolutely offensive descrip- where farmers sold produce brought across Hannah Reimann community paper surviving—and attracting tion of someone’s mental-heath struggles— the river from New Jersey on car floats and Science and LGBTQ Editor more advertisers—it would be a good idea not completely trivializes and dismisses the fact rail lighters. The market was replaced by Kambiz Shekdar, PhD to use material that offends this liberal com- that the last three months of dealing with the Manhattan Refrigeration Company. Regular Contributors munity. I sincerely doubt that your advertisers this virus could easily have a negative—and The waterfront was losing its function as a J.