| Kariye Mosque | |
|---|---|
 2024 Perspective view | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Greek Orthodox Church (before 1500), Sunni Islam (1500–1945, 2020–present),Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey (1924–1945, 2020–present) |
| Status | Mosque (since 2020) |
| Location | |
| Location | Istanbul,Turkey |
  Location within theFatih district of Istanbul | |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°01′52″N28°56′21″E / 41.03122°N 28.93903°E /41.03122; 28.93903 |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Church |
| Style | Byzantine architecture,Ottoman architecture,Islamic |
| Minaret | 2 |
TheChora Church orKariye Mosque (Turkish:Kariye Camii) is aByzantine church, now converted to amosque (for the second time), in theEdirnekapı neighborhood ofFatih district,Istanbul,Turkey. It is famous for its outstanding LateByzantine mosaics andfrescos.
In the 16th century, during theOttoman era, it was converted into a mosque; it became a museum in 1945, and was turned back into a mosque in 2020 by PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[1][2] The interior is covered with some of the finest surviving Byzantine Christianmosaics andfrescoes, which were left in plain sight during Muslim worship throughout much of the Ottoman era.[3] They were restored after the building was secularized and turned into a museum.
The church in the westernFatih district of İstanbul. It stands on sedimentary layers and anthropogenic infillson 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 thecity walls of Constantinople erected byConstantine the Great, to the south of theGolden Horn. However, whenTheodosius II built his formidableland 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 seebelow).
The majority of the fabric of the current building dates from 1077–1081, whenMaria Doukaina, the mother-in-law ofAlexius I Comnenus, rebuilt the Chora Church as aninscribed cross orquincunx: a popular architectural style of the time. Early in the 12th century, the church suffered a partial collapse, perhaps due to anearthquake.
The church was rebuilt byIsaac 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 statesmanTheodore Metochites endowed the church with many of its finemosaics andfrescoes. Theodore's impressive decoration of the interior was carried out between circa 1310 and 1317.[4] The mosaic work is the finest example of thePalaeologian Renaissance. The artists remain unknown. A renowned classical scholar as well as statesman, Theodore donated his personal library to the Chora monastery, as well.[5] Later on, between 1315 and 1321,Theodore Metochites, the Grand Logothete of the Treasury, commissioned theconstruction of the funerary chapel, outer buttress supports, and the narthexes. In 1328, Theodore was sent into exile by the usurperAndronicus 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 amonk in his Chora Church.
In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the monastery was home to the scholarMaximus Planudes, who was responsible for the restoration and reintroduction ofPtolemy'sGeography to the Byzantines and, ultimately, toRenaissance Italy. During the lastsiege of Constantinople in 1453, theIcon of theTheotokosHodegetria, considered the protector of the City, was brought to Chora in order to assist the defenders against the assault of theOttomans.[6]
Around fifty years after the fall of the city to theOttomans,Hadım Ali Pasha, theGrand Vizier of SultanBayezid II, ordered the Chora Church to be converted into amosque —Kariye Camii. The word Kariye derived from the Greek name Chora.[7] 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.[8] Due to theprohibition against iconic images inIslam, 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.
In 1945 the site was secularized and designated a museum via Cabinet Decree, reflecting early Republican efforts to position Byzantine monuments asuniversal patrimony.[9] In 1945, the building was designated a museum by the Turkish government.[10] In 1948, the American scholarsThomas Whittemore and Paul A. Underwood, from theByzantine Institute of America and theDumbarton 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.
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.[11] In November 2019, theTurkish Council of State, Turkey's highest administrative court, ordered that it was to be reconverted to a mosque.[10] In August 2020, its status changed to a mosque.[12]
The move to convert Chora Church into a mosque was condemned by the Greek Foreign Ministry and by Greek Orthodox and Protestant Christians.[1] This caused a sharp rebuke by Turkey.[13]
On Friday 30 October 2020, Muslim prayers were held for the first time after 72 years.[14]
The building was opened for Muslim worship on 6 May 2024.[15]
Kariye Mosque is situated within the “Historic Areas of Istanbul” inscribed on theUNESCO World Heritage List since 1985. It falls under the protection of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention, where State Party reporting, conservation planning, and risk monitoring under theWorld Heritage Centre are mandated. The site is registered as a 1st degree archaeological and architectural heritage asset and is protected underLaw No. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties.
The conversion to a museum in 1945, by the Cabinet Decree, was annulled. Regardless of the lawsuit opened by the Association of Permanent Foundations and Service to Historical Artifacts and Environment in 2005, for its right to be museum, in 2019 by the Council of State ruling based on religious foundations. In 2020, the Presidential Decree transferred the rights to the Presidency of Religious Affairs.
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 ornarthex, the main body of the church ornaos (nave), and the sidechapel orparecclesion. The building has sixdomes: two above theesonarthex, one above theparecclesion and three above thenaos.
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The main, west door of the Chora Church opens into thenarthex. It divides north–south into the outer, orexonarthex and the inner, oresonarthex.
The exonarthex (or outernarthex) 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 theparecclesion. The mosaics that decorate the exonarthex include:
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 theprothesis. The esonarthex has two "pumpkin" domes. The smaller is above the entrance to the northern corridor; the larger is midway between the entrances into the naos and the pareclession, and they continue the emphasis on imagery of the Virgin and Christ seen elsewhere in these mosaics.[5]
The mosaics in the first three bays of the inner narthex give an account of thelife of the Virgin, and those of her parents. Some of them are as follows:
The central doors of the esonarthex lead into the main body of the church, thenaos. The largest dome in the church (7.7 m in diameter) is above the centre of the naos. Two smaller domes flank the modestapse: the northern dome is over theprothesis, which is linked by short passage to thebema; the southern dome is over thediaconicon, which is reached via the parecclesion. Only three mosaics survive in the Chora's naos:
To the right of the esonarthex, doors open into the side chapel, orparecclesion. 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 infrescoes that emphasize the theological message of salvation, in keeping with the space's use as a funerary chapel.[5] Within the Christian worldview, God raises the dead at the end of time, hence the significance of the Anastasis and Last Judgement scenes painted prominently on the ceiling. The image of the Anastasis is particularly renowned, appearing in many art history survey books as a key examplar of late Byzantine art.
Along the walls of the Chora's parecclesion arearcosolia, arched recesses for tombs, likely intended for Theodore Metochites and his family. Also at this level are depictions of soldier saints, who wield swords as if protecting the tombs they accompany.[5]
The original, 4th-century monastery containing the church was outsideConstantinople's city walls. Literally translated, the church's full name was the Church of the Holy Saviour in the Country (Greek: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" (ἡ Χώρα τῶν ζώντων,hē Chōra tōn zōntōn) andMary, the mother of Jesus, as the "Container of the Uncontainable" (ἡ Χώρα τοῦ Ἀχωρήτου,hē Chōra tou Achōrētou).
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