Chora Church Museum Istanbul
History
The Chora Church Museum in Istanbul sits beside the shadow of Theodosius II’s land walls. The building was originally known as the Church of the Holy Saviour Outside the Walls (Chora means ‘country’). The church building was part of the great Chora Monastery, which was part of the Eastern Roman Empire. When Theodosius II built his land walls in 413, the church was taken into the city.
Over the centuries, it was reconstructed at least five times, most significantly in the 11th, 12th and 14th centuries. The famous mosaics and the frescos date back from circa 1320 and was funded by Theodore Metochites.
After the Fall of Contantinople, the church was turned into a mosque, known as Kariye Camii. Due to the prohibition of iconic images in Islam, the church’s frescoes were covered under a layer of plaster. In the beginning of the 20th century the minaret collapsed on the dome because of an earthquake, thus the dome was rebuilt but mosaics were lost. In 1958, it opened as a museum to the public.
