Chora Church

Our Saturday continued with a bus ride from Eminonu to the northern outskirts of the older city, beyond the original wall and just short of the final wall, to the Chora Church, a 14th century Byzantine church reknowned for its late Byzantine mosaics.

The Chora church is hemmed in by residential buildings and

it is difficult to get a good exterior view; this from the small

garden behind the church

Most of the great mosaics are in the narthex; that's Jesus
in the womb of Mary

Most concerning events in the life of Christ; this the

flight to Egypt

The fingers are sending some sort of Byzantine code;

digital, no doubt (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk)

Some are only remnants

The donor of the church, Metochites, offers his gift...

Another important personage with digital

issues

Mosaics had been around for a millenium or so, mostly on

Roman floors; it was the Byzantines who figured out how

to put them on walls and even ceilings, as here

A spectacular ceiling example, Christ's lineage

In the nave, the centerpiece moved a bit to the right, in the

direction of Mecca

In the side porch/narthex/whatever, a fresco of the last

judgment

Chora is known for the expressiveness, emotion, of its

figures; enlarge this to see...

Detail of the above; note the woman at the right...such

depiction of emotion is most unusual for its time