''
'' tr, Kariye Mosque''
, image = Chora Church Constantinople 2007 panorama 002.jpg
, caption = Exterior rear view
, map_type = Istanbul Fatih
, map_size = 220px
, map_caption = Location within the
Fatih
Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the co ...
district of Istanbul
, location =
Istanbul,
Turkey
, coordinates =
, latitude =
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, religious_affiliation =
Greek Orthodox Church (before 1500),
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
(1500–1945, 2020–present),
Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey (1924–1945, 2020–present)
, status =
, functional_status = Mosque
, heritage_designation =
, leadership =
, website =
, architecture = yes
, architect =
, architecture_type = Church
, architecture_style =
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire.
The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the Roman capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until th ...
,
Greek architecture,
Ottoman architecture,
Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
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The Chora Church or Chora Mosque ( tr, Kariye Camii), full former name the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora ( el, Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Ἁγίου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ Χώρᾳ}), is a
medieval Greek Orthodox church building
A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...
, mostly used as a
mosque since the 1500s, in the
Edirnekapı neighborhood of
Istanbul,
Turkey. It is mainly famous for its outstanding Late
Byzantine mosaics and
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
s.
The building is an example of
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire.
The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the Roman capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until th ...
. 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
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...
.
The interior of the building is covered with some of the finest surviving Byzantine Christian
mosaics and
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es, 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 neighborhood is situated in the western part of the
municipality of
Fatih
Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the co ...
district.
History
First phase (4th century)
The Chora Church was originally built in the early 4th century as part of a monastery complex outside the
city walls
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
of Constantinople erected by
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
, 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
above).
Second phase (11th century)
The majority of the fabric of the current building dates from 1077–1081, when
Maria Doukaina
Maria of Bulgaria (died 21 November, after 1095), known as Maria Doukaina ( gr, Μαρία Δούκαινα) in the Byzantine sources, was the wife of '' protovestiarios'' and '' domestikos ton scholon'' Andronikos Doukas and mother of Empress ...
, 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.
Third phase: new decoration (14th century)
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
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es. Theodore's impressive decoration of the interior was carried out between 1315 and 1321. The mosaic-work is the finest example of the
Palaeologian Renaissance. The artists remain unknown. 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.
Until the Conquest of Constantinople
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
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...
Hodegetria
A Hodegetria , ; russian: Одиги́трия, Odigítria ; Romanian: Hodighitria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salv ...
, considered the protector of the City, was brought to Chora in order to assist the defenders against the assault of the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
.
Kariye Mosque (c. 1500–1945)
Around fifty years after the fall of the city to the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
,
Hadım Ali Pasha, the
Grand Vizier
Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...
of Sultan
Bayezid II
Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...
, ordered the Chora Church to be converted into a
mosque — ''Kariye Camii''. The word Kariye derived from the Greek name Chora. Due to the
prohibition against iconic images in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, the mosaics and frescoes were covered behind a layer of plaster. This and frequent earthquakes in the region have taken their toll on the artwork.
Museum, art restoration (1945–2020)
In 1945, the building was designated a museum by the Turkish government.
In 1948, the American scholars
Thomas Whittemore
Thomas Whittemore (January 2, 1871 – June 8, 1950) was an American scholar and archaeologist who founded the Byzantine Institute of America. His close personal relationship with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and the first president of the ...
and Paul A. Underwood, from the
Byzantine Institute of America The Byzantine Institute of America is an organization founded for the preservation of Byzantine art and architecture.
History
Working with the Turkish government and President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, its greatest notable success is the preservati ...
and the
Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, sponsored a restoration program. From that time on, the building ceased to be a functioning mosque. In 1958, it was opened to the public as a museum, ''Kariye Müzesi''.
Reconversion to a mosque (2020–)
In 2005, the Association of Permanent Foundations and Service to Historical Artifacts and Environment filed a lawsuit to challenge the status of the Chora Church as a museum. In November 2019, the
Turkish Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court, ordered that it was to be reconverted to a mosque.
[ In August 2020, its status changed to a mosque.
The move to convert Chora Church into a mosque was condemned by the Greek Foreign Ministry and by Greek Orthodox and Protestant Christians.] This caused a sharp rebuke by Turkey.
On Friday 30 October 2020, Muslim prayers were held for the first time after 72 years.Istanbul's Chora to open as mosque for Muslim prayers on Oct. 30
/ref>
Interior
The Chora Church is not as large as some of the other surviving Byzantine churches of Istanbul (it covers 742.5 m²) but it is unique among them, because of its almost completely still extant internal decoration. The building is divided into three main areas: the entrance hall or '' narthex'', the main body of the church or '' naos'' (nave), and the side chapel or ''parecclesion
Parecclesion or parakklesion ( el, παρεκκλήσιον 'chapel') is a type of side chapel found in Byzantine architecture.
Examples of existing parecclesions:
* Chora Church
* Pammakaristos Church
The Pammakaristos Church, also known a ...
''. The building has six dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
s: two above the ''esonarthex'', one above the ''parecclesion'' and three above the ''naos''.
Narthex
The main, west door of the Chora Church opens into the narthex. It divides north–south into the outer, or ''exonarthex'' and the inner, or ''esonarthex''.
Exonarthex
The exonarthex (or outer narthex) is the first part of the church that one enters. It is a transverse corridor, 4 m wide and 23 m long, which is partially open on its eastern length into the parallel esonarthex. The southern end of the exonarthex opens out through the esonarthex forming a western antechamber to the parecclesion. The mosaics that decorate the exonarthex include:
# Joseph's dream and the journey to Bethlehem
# The enrollment for taxation
# The Nativity
# The journey of the Magi
# The inquiry of King Herod;
# The flight into Egypt
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...
# Two frescoes of the massacres ordered by King Herod
# Mothers mourning their children
# The flight of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist
# Joseph dreaming, and the return of the Holy Family from Egypt to Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
# Christ taken to Jerusalem for the Passover
# John the Baptist bearing witness to Christ
# A miracle
# Three more miracles
# Jesus Christ
# The Virgin and angels praying
Esonarthex
The esonarthex (or inner narthex) is similar to the exonarthex, running parallel to it. Like the exonarthex, the esonarthex is 4 m wide, but it is slightly shorter, 18 m long. Its central, eastern door opens into the naos, while another door at the southern end of the esonarthex opens into the rectangular antechamber of the parecclesion. At its northern end, a door from the esonarthex leads into a broad west–east corridor that runs along the northern side of the naos and into the prothesis. The esonarthex has two domes. The smaller is above the entrance to the northern corridor; the larger is midway between the entrances into the naos and the pareclession.
# Enthroned Christ with Theodore Metochites presenting a model of his church
# Saint Peter
# Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
# The '' Deesis'': Christ and the Virgin Mary (without John the Baptist) with two donors below
# The genealogy of Christ
# Religious and noble ancestors of Christ
The mosaics in the first three bays of the inner narthex give an account of the life of the Virgin, and those of her parents. Some of them are as follows:
# The rejection of Joachim's offerings
# The annunciation to Saint Anne
According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...
: the angel of the Lord announcing to Anne that her prayer for a child has been heard
# The meeting of Joachim and Anne
# The birth of the Virgin
# The first seven steps of the Virgin
# The Virgin given affection by her parents
# The Virgin blessed by the priests
# The presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
# The Virgin receiving bread from an Angel
# The Virgin receiving the skein of purple wool, as the priests decided to have the attendant maidens weave a veil for the Temple
# Zechariah
Zechariah most often refers to:
* Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah
* Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist
Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to:
People
*Zechariah ...
praying; when it was time for the Virgin to marry, the High Priest Zechariah called all the widowers together and placed their rods on the altar, praying for a sign showing to whom she should be given
# The Virgin entrusted to Joseph;
# Joseph taking the Virgin to his house;
# The Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
to the Virgin at the well;
# Joseph leaving the Virgin; Joseph had to leave for six months on business and when he returned the Virgin was pregnant, arousing his suspicion.
Naos
The central doors of the esonarthex lead into the main body of the church, the ''naos''. The largest dome in the church (7.7 m in diameter) is above the centre of the naos. Two smaller domes flank the modest apse: the northern dome is over the prothesis, which is linked by short passage to the bema
A bema was an elevated platform used as an orator's podium in ancient Athens. The term can refer to the raised area in a sanctuary. In Jewish synagogues, where it is used for Torah reading during services, the term used is bima or bimah.
Ancien ...
; the southern dome is over the diaconicon, which is reached via the parecclesion.
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos june 2019 2361.jpg, View from the naos toward the apse
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Jesus Christ june 2019 2372.jpg, Christ
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Theodokos june 2019 2375.jpg, Virgin and Child
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Theodokos june 2019 2378.jpg, Virgin and Child (detail)
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos june 2019 2344.jpg, Position of the ''Koimesis'' mosaic
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Dormition june 2019 2371.jpg, ''Koimesis'' (central part)
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Dormition june 2019 2370.jpg, ''Koimesis'' (detail)
File:Istanbul Kariye museum Naos Dormition june 2019 2380.jpg, ''Koimesis'' (detail)
# ''Koimesis'' (the Dormition of the Virgin; i.e. her last sleep before ascending to Heaven). Jesus is holding an infant, symbolic of Mary's soul.
# Jesus Christ
# ''Theotokos'' (the Virgin and Child)
Parecclesion
To the right of the esonarthex, doors open into the side chapel, or ''parecclesion''. The parecclesion was used as a mortuary chapel for family burials and memorials. The second largest dome (4.5 m diameter) in the church graces the centre of the roof of the parecclesion. A small passageway links the parecclesion directly into the naos, and off this passage can be found a small oratory and a storeroom. The parecclesion is covered in fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es:
# ''Anastasis'' (literally Resurrection)": the Harrowing of Hell. Christ, who has just broken down the gates of Hell, is standing in the centre and pulling Adam and Eve out of their tombs. Behind Adam stand John the Baptist, David, and Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
. Others are righteous kings;
# The Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
, or Second Coming. Christ is enthroned with the Virgin and John the Baptist on either side of him. (This trio is also called the ''Deesis''.)
# Virgin and Child
# Heavenly court of angels
# Two panels of Moses
Chora Church Constantinople 2007 013.jpg, The ''Anastasis'' fresco in the parecclesion
Istanbul Chora Church 01.jpg, Virgin and Child, painted dome of the parecclesion
Chorachurchfresco.jpg, Close-up of the Virgin and Child, dome of the parecclesion
Name
The original, 4th-century monastery containing the church was outside Constantinople's city walls. Literally translated, the church's full name was the Church of the Holy Saviour in the Country ( el, ἡ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Ἁγίου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ Χώρᾳ, ''hē Ekklēsia tou Hagiou Sōtēros en tēi Chōrāi''). It is therefore sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Saint Saviour". However, "The Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Fields" would be a more natural rendering of the name in English. The last part of the Greek name, Chora, referring to its location originally outside of the walls, became the shortened name of the church. The name must have carried symbolic meaning, as the mosaics in the narthex describe Christ as the ''Land of the Living'' (, ''hē Chōra tōn zōntōn'') and Mary, the mother of Jesus
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
, as the ''Container of the Uncontainable'' (, ''hē Chōra tou Achōrētou'').
See also
*Icon of the Hodegetria
A Hodegetria , ; russian: Одиги́трия, Odigítria ; Romanian: Hodighitria, or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of sal ...
* Monastery of the Panaghia Hodegetria
*Church of the Virgin Pammakaristos
The Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos ( el, , "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous Byzantine churches in Istanbul, Turkey, and was the last pre- Ottoman building to house the Ecumenical ...
* History of Roman and Byzantine domes
Notes
References
*
*
Literature
* ''Chora: The Kariye Museum''. Net Turistik Yayınlar (1987).
* Feridun Dirimtekin. ''The historical monument of Kariye''. Türkiye Turing ve Otomobil Kurumu (1966). ASIN B0007JHABQ
* Semavi Eyice. ''Kariye Mosque Church of Chora Monastery''. Net Turistik Yayınlar A.Ş. (1997).
* Çelik Gülersoy. ''Kariye (Chora)''. ASIN B000RMMHZ2
* Jonathan Harris, ''Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium''. Hambledon/Continuum (2007).
* Karahan, Anne. ''Byzantine Holy Images – Transcendence and Immanence. The Theological Background of the Iconography and Aesthetics of the Chora Church'' (monography, 355 pp) (''Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta'' No. 176) Leuven-Paris-Walpole, MA: Peeters Publishers 2010.
* Karahan, Anne. “The Paleologan Iconography of the Chora Church and its Relation to Greek Antiquity”. In: ''Journal of Art History'' 66 (1997), Issue 2 & 3: pp. 89–95 Routhledge (Taylor & Francis Group online publication 1 September 2008: DOI:10.1080/00233609708604425) 1997
* Krannert Art Museum. ''Restoring Byzantium: The Kariye Camii in Istanbul and the Byzantine Institute Restoration''. Miriam & IRA D. Wallach Art Gallery (2004).
*
* Robert Ousterhout (Editor), Leslie Brubaker (Editor). ''The Sacred Image East and West''. University of Illinois Press (1994).
* ''Saint Saviour in Chora''. A Turizm Yayınları Ltd. (1988). ASIN B000FK8854
* Cevdet Turkay. ''Kariye Mosque''. (1964). ASIN B000IUWV2C
* Paul A. Underwood. ''The Kariye Djami'' in 3 Volumes. Bollingen (1966). ASIN B000WMDL7U
* Paul A. Underwood. ''Third Preliminary Report on the Restoration of the Frescoes in the Kariye Camii at Istanbul''. Harvard University Press (1958). ASIN B000IBCESM
* Edda Renker Weissenbacher. ''Kariye: The Chora Church, Step by Step''. ASIN B000RBATF8
External links
Go Turkey – Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency
Official Website
Columbia University Restoring Byzantium , The Kariye Camii in Istanbul and the Byzantine Institute Restoration
Interior and exterior pictures in http://rubens.anu.edu.au
(Dead link)
Photos with explanations
BYZANTINE MOSAICS OF CHORA MONASTERY
Well over 500 pictures of the Chora museum
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