Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

Monastery led to the monastery expanding and being rebuilt in 536 during the rule of Justinian. What you see today isn’t Justinian’s church, though. That building was destroyed during the Iconoclastic period (711–843) and reconstructed at least five times, most significantly in the 11th, 12th and 14th centuries. Today the Chora consists of five main architectural units: the nave, the two-storied structure (annexe) added to the north, the inner and outer narthexes, and the chapel for tombs (parecclesion) to the south. Virtually all of the interior decoration – the famous mosaics and the less renowned but equally striking frescoes – dates from c 1320 and was funded by court treasurer Theodore Metochites. One of the museum’s most wonderful mosaics, found above the door to the nave in the inner narthex, depicts Theodore offering the church to Christ (item 48). Metochites also established a very large and rich library inside the monastery; unfortunately, no traces of this or the other monastery buildings have survived. The structure and environs of the church weren’t the only thing to change over the years: after centuries of use as a church, the building became a mosque during the reign of Beyazıt II (1481–1512), and the 14th century belfry was replaced by a minaret. The church was converted into a museum in 1945.