Chora Church

The Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora sits by the land walls in a quiet quarter of Fatih, and its decoration is the reason people cross the city for it. The building is eleventh-century in its core, but the mosaics and frescoes were commissioned in the early fourteenth century by Theodore Metochites, a scholar and statesman, and they represent the Palaiologan renaissance at its height: cycles of the lives of Christ and the Virgin in gold-ground mosaic across the narthexes, with figures that have depth, movement and individual faces rather than the frontal formality of earlier Byzantine work. The parekklesion, the side chapel, holds the fresco of the Anastasis - Christ hauling Adam and Eve out of their tombs - which is among the most reproduced images in Byzantine art. The building has changed function more than once across its history, most recently in 2020, and was closed for a long restoration; opening arrangements and access have shifted, so confirm the current position before travelling out.

History

The church was first built in the early 4th century as part of a monastery outside the walls of Constantinople, and when the Theodosian walls went up in 413-414 it ended up inside the city's defences while keeping the name Chora, the country. Most of the present building dates from 1077-1081, when Maria Doukaina, mother-in-law of Alexios I Komnenos, rebuilt it as a cross-in-square church, and between about 1310 and 1317 the statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites gave it the mosaics and frescoes that are the finest work of the Palaiologan renaissance, adding the funerary chapel and narthexes in 1315-1321 and leaving it his library. Around 1500 the grand vizier Hadım Ali Pasha had it converted into the Kariye Mosque with little change to the building; it became a museum in 1945 and a mosque again in 2020 (Wikipedia, The Chora).

What's there

• The narthex mosaics - the Christ and Virgin cycles in gold ground.
• The Anastasis fresco - the parekklesion's resurrection scene.
• The Metochites panel - the donor presenting the church.
• The wall-side setting - the quiet quarter by the Theodosian walls.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Confirm opening arrangements before travelling - access has changed in recent years and the building has had long closures.

Good to know

Status and access have changed since 2020 and restoration has affected which parts are visible - check before making the trip. It is well outside the tourist core, needing a bus or taxi. Photography rules vary.

Nearby

The Theodosian walls run alongside; Fener and Balat are down the hill toward the Golden Horn.

Key facts