Today, Egrikapi is a neglected gate of the abandoned Byzantine castle and is located near Emperor Porphyrogennetos's palace. The gate's story is known to almost nobody living in modern Istanbul except for the few Greeks of the city. At the dawn of 29th May 1453, a group of Turkish soldiers entered the castle through it and broke the city's defense from within. The gate used to be a remote entrance to the castle, possibly for spies and supplies to enter during the night. The Turks might have secretly been watching the gate and and found the opportunity to invade in as soon as the Greeks opened it for a while. The gate had probably been lightly guarded, as a few miles away, at Romanos's gate, the major battle under Constantine Palaiologos's leadership was taking place. It's not clear whether there was a traitor responsible for opening the gate to the Turks but it's possible. Traitors have been the reason for many lost battles in history, but often they are invented in order to justify defeats simply caused by negligence.

In the center of Cairo there is an area guarded by troops, which is called "Old Cairo" (Misr el Kadima) and it is Egypt's Christian bastion. There are many historical Christian churches in this area, the oldest of which is the Saints Sergius and Bacchus church. There is a cave in the basement of this church, which is called the Family Crypt.

The overwhelming architecture of the London Docklands outshines the people and makes them seem tiny and even nonexistent. Despite the thousands of people moving and working between the glass buildings, the spaces look empty and there is a sense of solitude and desolation.

In the Church of the Nativity, thousands of touched pilgrims are vibrated by the aura in the atmosphere that inevitably captivates everyone, even the non religious.

The historical Church with the legendary mosaics is about to follow the fate of Hagia Sofia and fall a victim of the revengeful obscurantism. Soon, black curtains will deprive humanity of a high art. The symbolisms of this choice are many and on various levels. The supremacy of Islam, the right of conquence, the disobedience to the West; yet, what seems to be prevailing is the hate of the predecessor, as well as an anger that neither time nor the magic of art are capable of healing. TEXT-PHOTOS: George Zafeiropoulos, SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com