Chora Mosque
Chora Mosque is a unique building in the entire Istanbul. It is a beautiful Roman Church with priceless iconography from the late Byzantium Era. If you visit this region, it is not only the Chora Mosque but there are countless other buildings to visit. Let's see why this building is a really important building with some further explanations.
First of all, the name ''Chora'' means ''outside, in the fields.'' There are several explanations why a name like that was given to the building. One idea says it is called ''outside'' because of the location of the building outside of the city walls. Today, if you visit the Chora Mosque, you will see that it is located inside the walls. But those walls that are mentioned here, are the walls of Constantine the Great that dates back to the 4th century. This may be the case only if, that story matches with the date of the building which doesn't. The oldest piece of stonework in the building dates back to the 8th century. The second idea about the name says it is called ''outside'' because of the difference between daily life and spiritual life. They say it is called ''outside'' because this is a building of worship that is outside of the daily hassle of life. One way or another the name of the building was Chora and the dedication was to Jesus. In the course of history, the building had lots of damages and was renovated several times. During the 4th Crusades, the building suffered a lot and was finally renovated one more time by Theodore Metochites. Theodore was not a Roman emperor but he was the minister of economy and advisor of the emperor in the late 14th century. He also has a famous saying about the Crusades that pillaged the church in the 13th century. ''Instead of seeing the hats of cardinals, I would rather see the turban of the sultans.'' This was the saying of himself for us to understand how brutal was the Crusaders in Istanbul in the 13th century.
After the church was renovated in the 14th century, the building served as a church until the 16th century. We can understand that the building served as a church after the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottoman Turks. After being converted to a mosque, there were some adjustments needed for making it available to serve as a mosque. Those changes were including the change of the direction of the apse, adding a minaret, covering the faces of the mosaics and frescoes, and so on.
The building consists of three separate areas. The first is called ''narthex''. The word narthex is similar to a corridor for believers to prepare themselves for prayers. The second section is called ''paracclesion'' which means the place for burials. Then the final part is the ''naos'' which is the praying area of the church. The majority of the mosaics that are important to see in the building are in the corridors.
What makes Chora an important building is, of course, the art of mosaics and frescoes. If you check the mosaics of the place, you can see the bible from the beginning of the book to the end. These mosaics are telling about the entire story of the bible starting from the mother and the father of the Virgin Mary. The first story of the mosaics starts with the story of the rejection of Joachim from the temple. Joachim was the father of the Virgin Mary and the reason for his rejection was not having a kid. According to the story, this was interpreted as a curse of God to the family of Joachim and he should be rejected from the temple. After this story, sad Joachim goes to the deserts and prays God for a kid. After Joachim prays and fasts for 40 days in the deserts, an angel comes and speaks with Anne about the birth of a new baby. Then after this, there are the stories of the birth of the Virgin Mary, the first seven steps, the presentation of the Virgin Mary to the temple, the temple choosing Joseph as the husband to Virgin Mary, the Annunciation to Mary, the birth of Jesus, three Magee coming to king Herod, the massacre of innocents, miracles of Jesus, the journey to Jerusalem in mosaic panels.
After seeing the corridors, if you pass to paracclesion, you can see the beautiful frescoes. As the place was a burial site and related to the other life, the subjects of the frescoes are the same as well. The most famous fresco of the Chora Mosque is the ''Anastasis'' which means ''the Resurrection''. In that fresco, you can see Jesus returning back to hell and saving the first two sinners, Adam and Eve. After he saves Adam and Eve, there is no first sin and it is the time for the great judgment day. You can see one of the most detailed judgment day descriptions in the world in the ceiling of this former burial site.
After visiting Chora Mosque which may take about 2 hours if you are into the subject, for a nice meal there are two restaurants close by. ''Pembe Köşk'' which is just in the park outside of Chora, serves really good examples of kebabs. If you like eggplant, you can ask for the special eggplant kebap which you will love at the end. If you want to try a little different taste as a lunch or a dinner, next to Chora Mosque, you can try ''Asitane Restaurant''. This is one of the rare Ottoman restaurants in Istanbul and you can enjoy the palace cuisine that dates back to the Ottoman Era starting from the 15th century. If the season is right, you can try the ''stuffed honey melon.''
While you are in the Chora region, you may want to visit the Tekfur Palace and the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque. They are within walking distance from the Chora Mosque.