4/5 Gursewak singh n. 3 years ago on Google
The
Chora
Church
was
originally
built
as
part
of
a
monastery
complex
outside
the
walls
of Constantinople,
to
the
south
of
the Golden
Horn.
Literally
translated,
the
church's
full
name
was
the Church
of
the
Holy
Saviour
in
the
Country:
although
"The
Church
of
the
Holy
Redeemer
in
the
Fields"
would
be
a
more
natural
rendering
of
the
name
in
English.
(Greek ἡ
Ἐκκλησία
τοῦ
Ἁγίου
Σωτῆρος
ἐν
τῇ
Χώρᾳ, hē
Ekklēsia
tou
Hagiou
Sōtēros
en
tēi
Chōrai).[2] The
last
part
of
that
name, Chora,
referring
to
its
location
originally
outside
of
the
walls,
became
the
shortened
name
of
the
church.
The
original
church
on
this
site
was
built
in
the
early
4th
century,
and
stood
outside
of
the 4th
century
walls of Constantine
the
Great.
However,
when Theodosius
II built
his
formidable land
walls in
413–414,
the
church
became
incorporated
within
the
city's
defences,
but
retained
the
name Chora.
The
name
must
have
carried
symbolic
meaning,
as
the
mosaics
in
the narthex describe Christ as
the Land
of
the
Living and Mary,
the
Mother
of
Jesus,
as
the Container
of
the
Uncontainable
The
majority
of
the
fabric
of
the
current
building
dates
from
1077–1081,
when
Maria
Dukaina,
the
mother-in-law
of Alexius
I
Comnenus,
rebuilt
the
Chora
Church
as
an inscribed
cross or quincunx:
a
popular
architectural
style
of
the
time.
Early
in
the
12th
century,
the
church
suffered
a
partial
collapse,
perhaps
due
to
an earthquake.
The
church
was
rebuilt
by Isaac
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
statesman Theodore
Metochites endowed
the
church
with
many
of
its
fine mosaics and frescos.
Theodore's
impressive
decoration
of
the
interior
was
carried
out
between
1315
and
1321.
The
mosaic-work
is
the
finest
example
of
the Palaeologian Renaissance.
The
artists
remain
unknown.
In
1328,
Theodore
was
sent
into
exile
by
the
usurper Andronicus
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
a monk in
his
Chora
Church.
In
the
late
13th
and
early
14th
centuries,
the
monastery
was
home
to
the
scholar Maximus
Planudes,
who
was
responsible
for
the
restoration
and
reintroduction
of Ptolemy's Geography to
the
Byzantines
and,
ultimately,
to Renaissance
Italy.
During
the
last siege
of
Constantinople in
1453,
the Icon of
the Theotokos Hodegetria,
considered
the
protector
of
the
City,
was
brought
to
Chora
in
order
to
assist
the
defenders
against
the
assault
of
the Ottomans.
Around
fifty
years
after
the
fall
of
the
city
to
the Ottomans,
Atık
Ali
Paşa,
the Grand
Vizier of
Sultan Bayezid
II,
ordered
the
Chora
Church
to
be
converted
into
a mosque — Kariye
Camii.
The
word
Kariye
derived
from
the
Greek
name
Chora.Due
to
the prohibition
against
iconic
images in Islam,
the
mosaics
and
frescoes
were
covered
behind
a
layer
of
plaster.
This
and
frequent
earthquakes
in
the
region
have
taken
their
toll
on
the
artwork.
In
1948,
Americans Thomas
Whittemore and
Paul
A.
Underwood,
from
the Byzantine
Institute
of
America and
the Dumbarton
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.In
November
2019,
the Turkish
Council
of
State,
Turkey's
highest
administrative
court,
ordered
that
it
was
to
be
reconverted
to
a
mosque.