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The Chora
The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque (Turkish: Kariye Camii) is a Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for its outstanding Late Byzantine mosaics and frescos.
In the 16th century, during the Ottoman era, it was converted into a mosque; it became a museum in 1945, and was turned back into a mosque in 2020 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The interior is covered with some of the finest surviving Byzantine Christian mosaics and frescoes, which were left in plain sight during Muslim worship throughout much of the Ottoman era. They were restored after the building was secularized and turned into a museum.
The church in the western Fatih district of İstanbul. It stands on sedimentary layers and anthropogenic infills on a slope descending towards the north. It is oriented east-west, as are typical Byzantine churches throughout the city.
The Chora Church was originally built in the early 4th century as part of a monastery complex outside the city walls of Constantinople erected by Constantine the Great, to the south of the Golden Horn. However, when Theodosius II built his formidable land walls in 413–414, the church became incorporated within the city's defences, but retained the name Chora (for the presumed symbolism of the name see below).
The majority of the fabric of the current building dates from 1077–1081, when Maria Doukaina, the mother-in-law of Alexius I Comnenus, rebuilt the Chora Church as an inscribed cross or quincunx: a popular architectural style of the time. Early in the 12th century, the church suffered a partial collapse, perhaps due to an earthquake.
The church was rebuilt by Isaac Comnenus, Alexius's third son. However, it was only after the third phase of building, two centuries after, that the church as it stands today was completed. The powerful Byzantine statesman Theodore Metochites endowed the church with many of its fine mosaics and frescoes. Theodore's impressive decoration of the interior was carried out between circa 1310 and 1317. The mosaic work is the finest example of the Palaeologian Renaissance. The artists remain unknown. A renowned classical scholar as well as statesman, Theodore donated his personal library to the Chora monastery, as well. Later on, between 1315 and 1321, Theodore Metochites, the Grand Logothete of the Treasury, commissioned the construction of the funerary chapel, outer buttress supports, and the narthexes. In 1328, Theodore was sent into exile by the usurper Andronicus III Palaeologus. However, he was allowed to return to the city two years later, and lived out the last two years of his life as a monk in his Chora Church.
In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the monastery was home to the scholar Maximus Planudes, who was responsible for the restoration and reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to the Byzantines and, ultimately, to Renaissance Italy. During the last siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Icon of the Theotokos Hodegetria, considered the protector of the City, was brought to Chora in order to assist the defenders against the assault of the Ottomans.
Around fifty years after the fall of the city to the Ottomans, Hadım Ali Pasha, the Grand Vizier of Sultan Bayezid II, ordered the Chora Church to be converted into a mosque — Kariye Camii. The word Kariye derived from the Greek name Chora. The architectural modifications were kept minimal with minor whitewashing and the addition of a brick minaret and mihrab. None altered the spatial organisation of the church. Ottoman records indicate maintenance rather than renovation. Due to the prohibition against iconic images in Islam, the mosaics and frescoes were covered by a layer of plaster. This and frequent earthquakes in the region have taken their toll on the artwork. Additionally, the intervention efforts of the 19th century, led by Evkaf Nezareti, flattened the original domed roof profile, and masked the Late Byzantine silhouette.
Hub AI
The Chora AI simulator
(@The Chora_simulator)
The Chora
The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque (Turkish: Kariye Camii) is a Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for its outstanding Late Byzantine mosaics and frescos.
In the 16th century, during the Ottoman era, it was converted into a mosque; it became a museum in 1945, and was turned back into a mosque in 2020 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The interior is covered with some of the finest surviving Byzantine Christian mosaics and frescoes, which were left in plain sight during Muslim worship throughout much of the Ottoman era. They were restored after the building was secularized and turned into a museum.
The church in the western Fatih district of İstanbul. It stands on sedimentary layers and anthropogenic infills on a slope descending towards the north. It is oriented east-west, as are typical Byzantine churches throughout the city.
The Chora Church was originally built in the early 4th century as part of a monastery complex outside the city walls of Constantinople erected by Constantine the Great, to the south of the Golden Horn. However, when Theodosius II built his formidable land walls in 413–414, the church became incorporated within the city's defences, but retained the name Chora (for the presumed symbolism of the name see below).
The majority of the fabric of the current building dates from 1077–1081, when Maria Doukaina, the mother-in-law of Alexius I Comnenus, rebuilt the Chora Church as an inscribed cross or quincunx: a popular architectural style of the time. Early in the 12th century, the church suffered a partial collapse, perhaps due to an earthquake.
The church was rebuilt by Isaac Comnenus, Alexius's third son. However, it was only after the third phase of building, two centuries after, that the church as it stands today was completed. The powerful Byzantine statesman Theodore Metochites endowed the church with many of its fine mosaics and frescoes. Theodore's impressive decoration of the interior was carried out between circa 1310 and 1317. The mosaic work is the finest example of the Palaeologian Renaissance. The artists remain unknown. A renowned classical scholar as well as statesman, Theodore donated his personal library to the Chora monastery, as well. Later on, between 1315 and 1321, Theodore Metochites, the Grand Logothete of the Treasury, commissioned the construction of the funerary chapel, outer buttress supports, and the narthexes. In 1328, Theodore was sent into exile by the usurper Andronicus III Palaeologus. However, he was allowed to return to the city two years later, and lived out the last two years of his life as a monk in his Chora Church.
In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the monastery was home to the scholar Maximus Planudes, who was responsible for the restoration and reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to the Byzantines and, ultimately, to Renaissance Italy. During the last siege of Constantinople in 1453, the Icon of the Theotokos Hodegetria, considered the protector of the City, was brought to Chora in order to assist the defenders against the assault of the Ottomans.
Around fifty years after the fall of the city to the Ottomans, Hadım Ali Pasha, the Grand Vizier of Sultan Bayezid II, ordered the Chora Church to be converted into a mosque — Kariye Camii. The word Kariye derived from the Greek name Chora. The architectural modifications were kept minimal with minor whitewashing and the addition of a brick minaret and mihrab. None altered the spatial organisation of the church. Ottoman records indicate maintenance rather than renovation. Due to the prohibition against iconic images in Islam, the mosaics and frescoes were covered by a layer of plaster. This and frequent earthquakes in the region have taken their toll on the artwork. Additionally, the intervention efforts of the 19th century, led by Evkaf Nezareti, flattened the original domed roof profile, and masked the Late Byzantine silhouette.