The decision to transform the Kariye (Chora) Museum into a mosque

 

The decision to transform the Kariye (Chora) Museum into a mosque came just a month after a similar conversion of the UNESCO World Heritage-recognized Hagia Sophia.

In another such development, the Turkish government headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday (21 August) has passed a decree to convert the Byzantine Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora into a mosque, reports Greek news outlet Kathimerini.

The Chora church in Istanbul, home to some of the most exquisite frescoes of Byzantine period, was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans in 1511. In 1958 after its frescoes were uncovered and restored it reopened as a museum. As of today it’s a full service mosque.

The development comes only a month after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had passed order to convert the 1500-year-old Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Istanbul, Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

It should be noted that the Chora monastery was build in 4th century by the Byzantine emperor Justinian 1, the emperor who also constructed the Hagia Sophia mosque. It is known for its invaluable and stunning mosaics.

It was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans in 1511, nearly 50 years after the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. It was changed into a museum, called Kariye Museum, by a Council of Ministers decree in 1945 and was then extensively restored.

In December 2019, the Turkish government had changed the status of the museum but the decision of the State Council of Turkey had not been implemented, until today.