CHORA MUSEUM/MOSQUE

St. Teodius built the Chora Church in 534 during the reign of Emperor Justinian. The monastery was restored by Empress Maria Dukaina in the 11th century. In 1511, the church was converted into a mosque. The Chora Church has many mosaics on the wall, and they are from the 11th and 14 centuries.

The mosaics still can be seen as they were plastered when the church was converted into a mosque. The mosaics are basically about the birth of Jesus Crist, the birth of the Virgin Mary, the miracles of Jesus Crist, and the Saints of Christianity. Chora Church was converted into a museum in 1949. With the cabinet’s decision, the statue of the museum has been changed and has become a mosque once again. Like the other mosques in Turkey, everyone is allowed to visit Chora. The museum is located in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district / Istanbul.

The Mosaics are basically;

1. Six large dedicatory or devotional panels in the outer and inner narthexes
2. The Ancestry of Christ in two domes of the inner narthex

• The Cycle of the Life of the Blessed Virgin in the first three bays of the inner narthex

1. The Cycle of the Infancy of Christ in the lunettes of the outer narthex
2. The Cycle of Christ’s Ministry in the vaults of the outer narthex and the fourth bay of the inner narthex
3. The three panels in the nave

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Note: Chora Church was converted to a mosque in 2021.