Travel and Photography | Chora Church | Kariye Muzesi

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Chora Church | Kariye Muzesi

Istanbul has more than its fair share of Byzantine monuments, but few are as drop-dead gorgeous as the Chora Church. The fact that it’s hidden away in the little-visited Western Districts of the city means that many visitors overlook it.

The church was originally known as the Church of the Holy Saviour Outside the Walls, but what you see today is not the first church-outside-the-walls on this site. This one was built in the late 11th century, and underwent repairs, restructuring and conversion to a mosque in the succeeding centuries. Virtually all of the interior decoration dates from 1312 and was funded by Theodore Metochites, a poet and man of letters who was auditor of the treasury under Emperor Andronikos II (r 1282–1328). One of the museum’s most wonderful mosaics, found above the door to the nave in the inner narthex, depicts Theodore offering the church to Christ.

The Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora (Turkish Kariye Müzesi, Kariye Camii, or Kariye Kilisesi — the Chora Museum, Mosque or Church) is considered to be one of the most beautiful surviving examples of a Byzantine church. The church is situated in Istanbul, in the Edirnekapı neighborhood, which lies in the western part of the municipality (belediye) of Fatih. In the 16th century, during the Ottoman era, the church was converted into a mosque and, finally, it became a museum in 1948. The interior of the building is covered with fine mosaics and frescoes.

To those of you who like art, especially fine art, I highly recommended you to visit here. Trust me, you can spent hours here, looking at jaw dropping mosaics. Be sure to have a telephoto lens with you, 70-200mm is better so you can capture the mosaics in details. I don’t have telephoto lens, all I’ve is just 24 mm and 50 mm lens.

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Map to Edirnekapi From Sultanahmet

The best way to get to this part of town is to catch the Golden Horn (Haliç) ferry from Eminönü to Ayvansaray and walk up the hill along Dervişzade Sokak and Şişhane Caddesi following the remnants of Theodosius II’s land walls. Don’t hesitate to ask the local, ask them where is the “Kariye Muzesi” instead of Chora Church. You can also take the Tram to Edirnekapi from Sultanahmet but you need to get down at Topkapi station and take another tram (Number T4 tram, direction of Habipler) and get down at   Edirnekapi, then just ask local people there about “Kariye Muzesi” and most of them will gladly show you the way. It is not very far from the station.

*Visit Chora Museum website for more information.