Chora Church (Kariye Mosque) Mosaics and Frescoes

How the decoration is organised

Chora Church (Kariye Mosque) has four decorated spaces. You pass through them in a fixed order, and the pictures follow a plan. Learn the plan first and the catalogue of works further down this page becomes easy to read.

The official listing sums up the split in one line: mosaics on the life of Christ in the outer narthex, and on the life of the Virgin in the inner narthex (source). The side chapel is painted, not set in mosaic, and its theme is salvation (source).

Outer narthex: infancy and ministry of Christ

You enter here. Look up at the lunettes, the half-round wall panels under each vault. They carry the infancy cycle: Joseph's dream, the Nativity, the Magi, the flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents (source). The shallow vaults above hold the ministry and miracles, such as the wedding at Cana and the multiplication of the loaves.

Two single images face each other across this hall. Over the door to the inner narthex is a bust of Christ Pantokrator. Opposite is the Virgin with the child, labelled as the "container of the uncontainable" (source). The Greek wording puns on the name Chora.

Inner narthex: the Virgin, the ancestors and the donor

The second hall is the richest room in the building. Four things to find:

• The life of the Virgin. The cycle draws on the Protoevangelium, an early text outside the Bible (source). You see Joachim's offering refused, the annunciation to Anne, the birth of the Virgin, her first seven steps, and her presentation in the temple (source).
• The genealogy domes. Two ribbed domes show Christ and the Virgin in the centre, each ringed by Old Testament ancestors (source).
• The Deesis. A tall panel of Christ with the Virgin. Two earlier patrons kneel at their feet: Isaac Komnenos, and a nun named Melane, a daughter of Michael VIII (source).
• The donor panel. Above the door to the naos, Theodore Metochites kneels before the enthroned Christ and offers him a model of the church (source).

Saints Peter and Paul stand full length on either side of the naos door.

Naos: three surviving panels

The main hall has lost most of its mosaics. Three remain: the Dormition of the Virgin, called the Koimesis, and standing figures of Christ and the Virgin on either side of the apse (source). The fourteenth-century marble panelling on the walls is almost complete.

Parekklesion: Anastasis, Last Judgment and tombs

The long chapel on the south side was built for burials. Arched tomb niches line its walls, and soldier saints stand guard above them (source).

Everything here is fresco. In the apse is the Anastasis, the Byzantine image of the Resurrection. Christ, in white, hauls Adam and Eve out of their tombs while Hades lies bound below. John the Baptist, David and Solomon stand among the righteous at the sides (source). The vault in front carries the Last Judgment: Christ enthroned, the weighing of souls, the damned on one side and the elect entering paradise on the other (source).

The dome over the western bay shows the Virgin and child surrounded by angels. Below it sit four hymn writers whose verses were sung at funerals (source). The Anastasis stayed concealed behind wooden shutters until modern times, when the Byzantine Institute of America and Dumbarton Oaks revealed and restored it (source).

How to walk it in order

1. Outer narthex. Read the infancy scenes along the lunettes. Finish at the Pantokrator over the inner door.
2. Inner narthex. Stand under each dome in turn. Then follow the life of the Virgin along the walls, and stop at the Deesis.
3. Donor panel. Pause at the door to the naos and look up at Metochites.
4. Naos. See what is on view on the day; read the visibility note below.
5. Parekklesion. Take the dome first, then the Last Judgment vault, and end at the Anastasis.

That order takes most people about 60 minutes. A guide helps with the smaller scenes; see the guided tour page.

The Palaiologan style and the date

Metochites began his restoration around 1315 (source), and his rebuilding is placed between 1315 and 1321 (source). This is the Palaiologan period, the last flowering of Byzantine art, named after the ruling dynasty.

You can see what sets it apart when you look at faces and gestures rather than at the gold. Stories unfold across several scenes in a row, and each figure reacts to the next. Turkish Archaeological News describes the work as marked by emotional depth and individualised figures (source). The official listing calls it a "pinnacle of Late Byzantine art" (source). Our history page covers Metochites and the earlier churches on the site.

What you can see since 2024

The building reopened for worship and for visitors in May 2024 (source). Two points matter for the art.

• Naos. The official listing states that three mosaics of Jesus and Mary, above the entrance door of the naos and beside the pulpit, are "discreetly concealed" (source). A report from the reopening describes curtains over images in the areas set aside for worship (source). We have not found an official statement on when, or whether, they are uncovered. Plan as if you will not see them.
• Narthexes and parekklesion. These hold nearly all of the programme, and the same report notes mosaics still visible to visitors.

Flash is not permitted. Our gallery page has photography notes, and the tickets page lists entry options.

Check availability

The catalogue of works

Below, every major mosaic and fresco is listed with its place in the building, its period and a short description. Use the room names from this guide to find each one.