A powerful Byzantine court official builds himself a dazzling burial chapel.
Chora church, Istanbul, renovated c. 1316–21
[0:00] [music]
Dr. Steven Zucker: [0:04] We’re in the Chora Museum in Istanbul, in what was once a church and monastery.
Dr. Beth Harris: [0:10] The word “chora” means countryside.
Dr. Zucker: [0:12] It was outside of the walls built by the emperor Constantine, and so it was in the country.
Dr. Harris: [0:17] We walk into a double narthex, that is, two porches that would lead into the main area of the church.
Dr. Zucker: [0:24] Inside the exonarthex — that is, the outer narthex — we first see a lunette just above the doorway with a large Christ Pantokrator.
Dr. Harris: [0:33] This is the mosaic. “Pantokrator” means “ruler of the universe,” and he holds the Gospels in one hand and in the other begins to make a gesture of blessing.
Dr. Zucker: [0:43] It’s a very fine mosaic. You can see just how small those tesserae are and how elegant the face is, the long nose characteristic of the late Byzantine.
Dr. Harris: [0:54] That’s an important distinction. The late Byzantine, we’re talking about the period after 1261. In the early part of the 1200s, the city of Constantinople was sacked by the Crusaders.
Dr. Zucker: [1:06] During the Fourth Crusade.
Dr. Harris: [1:08] They took the city and held it for 60 years before it was reclaimed by another Byzantine emperor, this time from the dynasty of the Palaeologans. This period is often referred to as the Palaeologan Renaissance.
Dr. Zucker: [1:22] During the occupation, the city had imposed on it the Latin liturgy, that is, the Church of Rome, and of course, this area is Eastern Orthodox.
[1:31] So when the Eastern Orthodox came back in, there is this moment that we almost see as a revival, some even call it a renaissance, of Byzantine art. This church is such a great example because it is covered with mosaics and with frescoes.
Dr. Harris: [1:44] In this exonarthex, this first narthex porch, we see mosaics and the lunettes, and in the vaults above we see scenes of the life of Christ.
Dr. Zucker: [1:53] Directly across from the Pantokrator, we’re seeing Mary bearing Christ.
Dr. Harris: [1:58] Feels like a very Byzantine idea of Mary as bearer of God.
Dr. Zucker: [2:02] When we walk from the exonarthex to the inner narthex, we see just above the inner doorway before the main church an image of Christ enthroned, and to Christ’s right, kneeling, we see the patron of this church.
Dr. Harris: [2:15] His name was Theodore Metochites and he was a very wealthy and powerful man in the Byzantine Empire during this period.
Dr. Zucker: [2:23] He was the minister of finance and he’s also seen as a humanist, as a poet.
Dr. Harris: [2:28] As a scholar. Later in his career he became essentially the prime minister, and he became a major patron in the renovation of this church, which fell into disrepair and ruin during the period of the Latin occupation.
Dr. Zucker: [2:41] But in this period immediately after this period of renewal, a lot of older Byzantine churches were renovated, were restored, and this is a great example of that.
Dr. Harris: [2:50] Just above the colored marble panels, or marble revetment, which we see also in Hagia Sophia, we see Metochites in this beautiful mosaic presenting an image of this church to Christ enthroned.
Dr. Zucker: [3:02] Christ looks out at us, holds his hand in a position of blessing, and so we have the sense that Metochites is honoring Christ with this church and Christ in turn is blessing him and blessing this church.
Dr. Harris: [3:12] Just like we’ve seen in many other Byzantine images of Christ, he’s seated on a throne which has jewels embedded in it and a footstool with jewels.
Dr. Zucker: [3:21] The narthex has an extensive mosaic cycle, and the largest mosaic in it is a Deësis. Much of it has been lost, but the principal figures remain. We see a very large representation of Christ and of the Virgin Mary. The inner narthex focuses on the life of the Virgin Mary.
[3:37] First of all, there are two domes. They’re small domes. The one on the left is devoted to the Virgin Mary and her ancestors. The one on the right as you walk into the church is devoted to Christ and his ancestors.
Dr. Harris: [3:48] Then, surrounding those domes are additional mosaics, narratives. On the left, scenes from the life of Mary, and on the right, scenes from the life of Christ.
Dr. Zucker: [3:57] It is so rare to see Byzantine mosaics that are able to express a tenderness, a kind of human emotion and human experience in the way that these do. Look, for instance, at the mosaic of the Virgin Mary taking her first steps as a young child, or the way that Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, hold her so tenderly in another mosaic.
Dr. Harris: [4:21] This might remind us of the exploration of human emotion that we begin to see in the 1300s in Italy with artists like Giotto and Duccio.
Dr. Zucker: [4:29] That’s why it’s so interesting to see it here, because we associate this kind of attention to human experience with that early Italian art and less so with Byzantine, and yet here it is.
Dr. Harris: [4:38] We do see that exploration of human emotion, but not with the kind of naturalism of the human body that we see with Giotto. Here, the figures are still elongated and stylized and there’s a drama and exaggeration of their gestures to help us read that narrative.
Dr. Zucker: [4:55] Look, for instance, at the architecture. There’s this is kind of exaggerated perspective that’s used.
Dr. Harris: [5:01] But it helps to draw our eye to that central scene of Anna and Joachim and the child Mary.
Dr. Zucker: [5:06] We’ve been looking at mosaics so far, but let’s move into another part of the church, where the material changes from small tesserae — stone and glass — to fresco.
Dr. Harris: [5:16] Now, this part of the church is called the parekklesion, and this was added by Theodore Metochites as a funerary chapel.
Dr. Zucker: [5:23] The patron of this church, despite his wealth and his power, didn’t have an easy time of it later in his life. The emperor for whom he worked was the victim of a palace coup, an uprising, and a new emperor came in.
[5:37] He was exiled as a result, and according to letters that he wrote, lived two miserable years away from the city of Constantinople.
Dr. Harris: [5:45] And begged to return, and he was allowed after two years to return and came back to this monastery as a monk and lived out his remaining years here and was buried here in this funerary chapel.
Dr. Zucker: [5:57] The entire space of the chapel is covered with fresco. Most impressive is the dome we come upon as we first enter in — Mary above with the Christ Child, and below, a series of beautifully rendered angels that have survived very well.
[6:10] Below the base of the dome, as is so common in Byzantine domes, we have four pendentives, and each is filled by the writers of hymns. In a lunette just to the left is an extraordinary image. We see Jacob’s ladder.
Dr. Harris: [6:23] That’s an Old Testament story of Jacob having a dream of a ladder between earth and heaven and of angels going up and down that ladder. A prefiguration of the way that Mary allowed for the divine to come down to earth by being the bearer of God, the mother of God.
Dr. Zucker: [6:41] In this case, it’s not actually a ladder so much as a staircase, but what’s important is that this is this intermediary space, this connection between the divine and the earthly.
Dr. Harris: [6:52] We see that connection again in the story just below the ladder or staircase of Jacob wrestling with the angel, another Old Testament scene.
[7:00] And on the other side of the lunette, another moment from the Old Testament when man and the divine come together, where, in this case, Moses sees God in the form of a burning bush.
Dr. Zucker: [7:11] Interestingly, and because we’re in the context of a Christian church, we see an image of the Virgin Mary within that burning bush, which is really taking the Old Testament, that is, the Jewish Bible, and bringing it into a Christian context.
[7:23] There’s another dome-like space as we enter further into the parekklesion, and it shows the Last Judgment.
Dr. Harris: [7:29] Here we see Christ seated in a blue mandorla, on one side John the Baptist, on the other the Virgin Mary, and surrounded by prophets and apostles and angels.
Dr. Zucker: [7:41] Specific elements from the Book of the Apocalypse have been rendered here. For example, in the very center, we see a kind of spiral, and that’s a reference to the angel rolling up the heavens at the end of time.
Dr. Harris: [7:54] Below Christ, on Christ’s left, we see the damned in hell, and on the right, the blessed going into heaven.
Dr. Zucker: [8:02] One of the most distinctive and really one of the most interesting frescoes in this cycle, in this entire church, is in the back apse.
Dr. Harris: [8:10] This is the scene that’s sometimes called the Harrowing of Hell. It’s the moment when Christ descends into hell and saves souls who are in hell only because they lived before the time of Christ. Figures like the Old Testament prophets or Adam and Eve.
Dr. Zucker: [8:25] This is such an amazing image. So often we see Christ in a very static pose, especially in the Byzantine tradition.
Dr. Harris: [8:31] But here he’s actively saving souls. This is a very reassuring image for a funerary chapel.
Dr. Zucker: [8:38] They are being lifted out of their tomb.
Dr. Harris: [8:41] He’s grabbing them by their wrists. It’s not anything that man can do to save himself or herself, but only God’s grace, Christ’s sacrifice, that can save us.
Dr. Zucker: [8:51] Look at the broken locks and chains that litter the floor underneath Christ. These were, of course, the things that locked these souls in hell that he’s broken.
Dr. Harris: [9:00] Well, you can see the doors right below Christ’s feet.
Dr. Zucker: [9:03] This must have been such reassuring imagery for the patron, who knew he would be buried here, who knew his soul was soon to be judged.
Dr. Harris: [9:11] This is really an overwhelming space in its iconography, in its density of references and symbolism. We can almost feel Theodore Metochites here and his passionate desire to ensure salvation for his soul.
[9:27] [music]
Christ Pantokrator mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
An arresting, larger-than-life mosaic of Christ confronts viewers entering the Chora, a church that was once part of a monastery in the Eastern Roman “Byzantine” capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul). The bust-length Christ, who blesses viewers with his right hand and holds a jeweled Gospel book in his left hand, appears in the lunette above the door between the outer and inner narthex (view location in plan). Such depictions of Christ are commonly known as the “Pantokrator,” which means “almighty.” This mosaic is one of many well-preserved mosaics and frescoes in this church, which date to the fourteenth century.
Chora church plan with the reused portions of the older naos highlighted in pink (© Robert G. Ousterhout)
Power and patronage
These mosaics and frescoes are the result of patronage by a wealthy intellectual and high-ranking official named Theodore Metochites, who restored the Chora c. 1316–1321, where he intended to be buried when he died. The early history of the Chora monastery is hazy, but the core of the current church was built in the twelfth century by Isaac Komnenos and fell into disrepair when Constantinople was sacked by western Europeans in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade.
About a century later, Metochites, a scholar of classical texts who donated his personal library to the Chora, held the position of Mesazon, or “prime minister,” to emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, making him the second most powerful man in the empire. As ktetor (“founder,” or in this case, re-founder) of the Chora, Metochites oversaw the restoration of the twelfth-century church as well as the addition of inner and outer narthexes and a subsidiary chapel, or parekklesion, which served as a funeral chapel. The Chora’s rich mosaics and frescoes—among the finest examples of Late Byzantine art—illustrate Theodore Metochites’ ambition and his hope for salvation after death.
Christ Pantokrator mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Location of the Chora in the city of Constantinople (map: Carolyn Connor and Tom Elliot, Ancient World Mapping Center, CC BY-NC 3.0)
Jesus Christ, land of the living
Despite his seemingly stern gaze, the entrance mosaic of Christ Pantokrator is optimistically labeled “Jesus Christ, the land (chora) of the living,” a play on the monastery’s name, which likely originally referred to its location “in the country” outside of the city walls built by emperor Constantine. This phrase—“land of the living”—comes from Psalm 116:9: “I walk before the Lord in the land (chora) of the living.” [1] The same text from Psalm 116:9 also appears in the Orthodox funeral service, which would have taken place in the Chora’s funeral chapel. So, by labeling Christ “land of the living,” Metochites put a spiritual spin on the Monastery’s name while also expressing hope for eternal life within the church where he planned to be buried.
Virgin and Child mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Mother of God, container of the uncontainable
This mosaic of Christ faces a mosaic on the opposite wall, which pictures the Virgin with hands raised in prayer and the Christ child over her torso as if in her womb (view location in plan). The Virgin is labeled: “Mother of God, container (chora) of the uncontainable (achoritou).” This phrase, which describes the paradox that a human (Mary) could contain the Son of God (Jesus) in her womb, similarly references the monastery’s name. Such prominent images of Christ and the Virgin in the Chora reflect their important role in the Christian story of salvation, as well as the fact that the Chora monastery and parekklesion were likely dedicated to the Virgin and the main church to Christ.
Theodore Metochites and Christ mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Theodore Metochites and Christ mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Donor image
Proceeding into the inner narthex, viewers encounter a mosaic of the patron himself, Theodore Metochites, in the lunette over the door to the main part of the church, or naos (view location in plan). Christ sits on a jeweled throne against an expansive gold ground. Metochites kneels to Christ’s right, dressed in extravagant garments and wearing a flamboyant, turban-like hat, the asymmetry of the composition emphasizing the interaction between the two figures. This mosaic suggests Theodore’s high position within the empire but also his submission to Christ. As was common in medieval donation scenes, Metochites offers a model of the Chora—the very church in which this mosaic is located—to Christ.
Deësis
To the right, on the eastern wall of the inner narthex, a monumental Deësis mosaic shows the Virgin asking Christ to have mercy on the world (view location in plan). Because of her important role as the Mother of God, the Byzantines viewed the Virgin as a powerful intercessor between Christ and the faithful. John the Baptist, often included in the Deësis, has been omitted, probably to maximize the scale of the image within the space. Two past patrons of the Chora kneel on either side: Isaac Komnenos and a nun labeled “Melanie, the Lady of the Mongols,” who may be the daughter of emperor Michael VIII.
Deësis mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The Chora and Hagia Sophia
For Byzantine viewers, the image of Theodore Metochites would have called to mind two imperial images in Constantinople’s great cathedral, Hagia Sophia. Metochites’ gesture of donation evokes the tenth-century mosaic of Constantine and Justinian offering models of the city and Hagia Sophia to the Virgin and Child in the southwest vestibule. And Metochites’ kneeling gesture and position above the central door to the naos echoes the tenth-century mosaic of the prostrating emperor above Hagia Sophia’s “Imperial Door.”
Left: Chora’s donor mosaic; top right: Hagia Sophia’s southwest vestibule mosaic; bottom right: Hagia Sophia’s Imperial Door mosaic (photos, byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA)
The large scale of the Chora’s Deësis alludes to the monumental Deësis mosaic installed in Hagia Sophia’s south gallery—a section of the church reserved for imperial use—following the Latin crusaders’ occupation of Constantinople from 1204–1261. These visual echoes, or “intervisuality” between the Chora and Hagia Sophia, suggest Metochites’ desire to associate himself with Byzantium’s emperors, and his church with the capital’s cathedral, Hagia Sophia. [2]
Left: Chora’s Deësis (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0); right: Hagia Sophia’s Deësis (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Christ and the Virgin
Christ and the Virgin are the main subjects of the majority of the mosaics that fill the inner and outer narthexes. Narrative scenes from the lives of the Virgin and Christ adorn various architectural spaces, and often exhibit experimentation with figures and compositions.
Annunciation mosaic, c. 1316–1321, inner narthex, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In a dynamic depiction of the Annunciation, the Virgin looks awkwardly over her shoulder as Gabriel approaches from above. The image responds to the triangular architectural surface in which it is situated, resulting in an unconventional, diagonal composition.
The Virgin with her parents, c. 1316–1321, inner narthex, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
An image of the Virgin Mary with her parents exhibits a remarkable intimacy and evokes everyday life. Such “everyday” images in the Chora challenge common generalizations about Byzantine art as distant, spiritualized, and otherworldly.
South pumpkin dome, c. 1316–1321, inner narthex, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Detail of north pumpkin dome, c. 1316–1321, inner narthex, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The mosaics of the inner narthex culminate with two pumpkin domes (named for their fluted shape that resembles the undulating surface of a pumpkin) that display mosaics of Christ and the Virgin surrounded by their saintly ancestors from scripture (view location in plan).
Within the Chora, all human history seems to point toward these two figures and the pivotal role they play in the salvation of humankind.
The main church
Dormition mosaic, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: © thebyzantinelegacy)
Only three mosaics survive in the main church today. A mosaic of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary appears on the back (western) wall of the naos. And pair of proskynetaria icons of Christ and the Virgin once flanked the templon (the barrier between the sanctuary and naos, which no longer survives). These three images indicate that the emphasis on Christ and the Virgin that began in the narthexes continued in the main church where the Eucharist was celebrated.
Proskynetaria icons, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: © thebyzantinelegacy)
Chora church plan (adapted from plan © Robert G. Ousterhout)
The Parekklesion
Better preserved are the frescoes in the parekklesion (side chapel), located to the south of the main church, which present a message of salvation that is fitting for this funeral chapel. Arcosolia (arched recesses for tombs) punctuate the walls and were intended for the burial of Metochites and his loved ones (view location of tombs in plan).
Parekklesion dome, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Warrior saint seem to guard the arcosolia, c. 1316–1321, parekklesion, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
One enters the parekklesion beneath a dome decorated with frescoes of the Virgin and Child surrounded by angels (view location in plan). Hymnographers appear in the pendentives beneath the dome. Further below are scenes from the Old Testament, including Jacob’s ladder, Jacob wrestling the angel, Moses and the burning bush, scenes with the Ark of the Covenant, and more, which were understood as “types” of Christ and the Virgin. In other words, the Byzantines believed these episodes from the Old Testament prefigured Christ’s salvation of humankind. At ground level, soldier saints surround the tombs, brandishing their weapons like sacred guardians over the dead.
Last Judgment fresco, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Judgment and Resurrection
Proceeding further into the parekklesion, the viewer passes under a sprawling image of the Last Judgment, sobering but also hopeful, since it depicts the damnation but also the salvation of souls (view location in plan). The parekklesion frescoes culminate at the east end with images of resurrection, reflecting the Christian belief that God will raise the dead at the end of time.
Anastasis fresco, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Parekklesion, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The focal point of the parekklesion is the Anastasis (“resurrection”) fresco in the apse (view location in plan). The voluminous garments on the figures in this scene are a hallmark of Late Byzantine art. Drawn from non-biblical texts, the Anastasis visualizes Christ descending into Hades (the underworld) following his crucifixion to free human souls from the captivity of death. Christ’s death on the cross has paradoxically made him a victor over death, as described in the Orthodox hymn for Pascha (Easter): “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” Clad entirely in white, Christ strides dynamically over the broken locks and doors of the underworld, and a personification of Hades lies bound and defeated at the bottom of the composition. Adam and Eve—the archetypal first humans responsible for bringing sin and death into the world—are forcefully pulled from their tombs by the risen Christ.
Detail of Anastasis fresco, c. 1316–1321, Chora church, Constantinople (Istanbul) (photo: byzantologist, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Hope for salvation
Despite his considerable learning and political ambition, Metochites remained mindful of his mortality as he rebuilt the Chora monastery. While his donor image clearly communicated his position and achievements to all who entered the church, the frescoes of the parekklesion speak to Metochites’ anticipation of God’s judgment and his hope for resurrection and eternal life in the chora, or land, of the living.
