If you would like to see a great deal of the most distinguished examples of Byzantine mosaics, you should visit Caria. The Caria Mosque or Chora Church has the greatest number of mosaics among the churches in Turkey, moreover these mosaics are prime examples of Byzantine art which improved in parallel with the Renaissance!
This church, very close to the Theodosian city walls, is in fact part of a monastery with multipurpose buildings, which was built on a large area but has been completely destroyed. According to the legend, Empress Theodora’s uncle Theodoros, who became a monk leaving his life as a very important general, built this monastery in 534. Again according to the legend, the initial building, after undergoing many changes, was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 557.
The church we have today was built by Maria Dukakina, the mother in law of the Byzantine Emperor Aleksios I. Komnenos, during the late 11th century. At the beginning of the 14th century, the first chamberlain, scholar and arts patron Theodor Methokites renovated the church and he had most of the mosaics and frescoes made. One of the mosaics depicts him as the “benefactor”, showing him handing a model of the church to Christ.
The church has been known as “Khora” for centuries. Meaning “Country”, this name implied that the monastery which stood where the church is today was outside of the walls of Great Constantinople and it was an adjective given to Christ which meant “the largest sphere that is contained by man’s spiritual meaning”.
After the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul, the church was abandoned, then in 1511 it was transformed into a mosque and in 18th century a poorhouse and an elementary school were added, but there is no trace of these buildings either.
With its transformation from a church to a mosque, the mosaics and frescoes were hidden under shutters or limewash. Thomas Whittemore, who discovered the mosaics of Hagia Sophia in 1932 and the founder of the Byzantine Institute of America, and Paul Atkins Underwood, worked diligently to reveal the mosaics and frescoes. Closed to worship in 1947, the mosque is currently being visited as a Mosaic Museum.
When you visit Kariye, make sure to take a look at the menu containing the centennial recipes of the Ottoman cuisine, in the garden of the Asitane Restaurant neighboring the museum. Or read your book on Kariye with a cup of delicious Turkish coffee in the tea garden across the museum. Then you can visit other important spots such as Tekfur Palace, the Gül and Fethiye mosques which were formerly Byzantine churches, and the Mihrimah Mosque built by Mimar Sinan.
www.choramuseum.com
