The Chora Museum is located in a densely crowded neighborhood in the district Fatih close to the Edirnekapi section of the Roman City Walls. From the outside is not much visible but as one gets closer to find the building in a charming compound.
Visitors are advised to take a guide on their tour unless they are well informed of the Old and the New Testament as well as Byzantine fine art.
Be warned: closed on Wednesdays
The word "chora" means "outside the city, or countryside". Most probably, a small church was built here before the construction of Theodosian Walls, 5th century Roman City Walls.
The first church initiated the naming of the following edifices on the same foundation. The present-day church is dated to ll th to 14th Centuries. The interior design and the additions (parecclesion) made in the 14th century were the works of Theodore Metochites who was the grand minister to Emperor Andronicus Palaeologus I. He was also an astronomer, poet, theologian and philosopher. Unfortunately he lived a very sad life, after Andronicus was replaced by Andronicus III Palaeologus, he was sent to exile. After he returned to Constantinople, he devoted himself to the church as a monk and he died there.
Mosaic panels in the two narthexes at the entrance depict the lives of the Virgin and Christ in the chronological order described in the Bible. Religious subjects were depicted in the form of frescoes in the side chapel. Prominent church and court personalities were also depicted in these frescoes. Besides attractive exterior look, the mosaics and frescoes inside are considered as the masterpieces of the Byzantine "renaissance".
Early in the 16C, the church was converted into a mosque by Atik Ali Pasha and the mosaics were covered with plaster. The Byzantine Institute of America in the 1948 revealed and restored these mosaics under the supervision of Thomas Whittemore and Paul A. Underwood. Following the restoration the building was opened as a museum in 1958.
