In Istanbul, the former church of Saint-Sauveur-in-Chora reopens its doors as a mosque – Telquel.ma

LTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who celebrated the reopening of the iconic former Byzantine church from Ankara, ordered its conversion in August 2020, a month after the ancient Hagia Sophia reopened for Muslim worship.

A thick brick-colored carpet now covers the floor of the prayer room, where removable curtains cover two mosaics, one of which depicts Christ.

However, the vast majority of frescoes and mosaics in the building remain visible, AFP journalists note.

The Church of Saint-Sauveur-in-Chora, built by the Byzantines in the 5th century, also called the Church of Chora (Kariye, in Turkish), was converted into a mosque after the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453, then in a museum after World War II .

In addition to its millennium-long history that rivals that of the Hagia Sophia, the Chora church is best known for its magnificent mosaics and frescoes from the 14th century, including the monumental composition of the Last Judgment.

After World War II, the building underwent a lengthy restoration led by a team of American art historians and opened to the public as a museum in 1958.

“I had the opportunity to visit the place before and at first I was a little afraid of the work (…) or conversion, but we have to admit that it was well done and that the frescoes are accessible to everyone. I am calm and very happy”Michel, a 31-year-old French researcher on vacation in Istanbul, told AFP.

“It is timeless, it is something that for me is superior to Hagia Sophia, it is better preserved, less touristic and much more intimate”he rejoiced.

The announcement of its conversion into a mosque in 2020 has raised fears about the fate of the building’s mosaics and frescoes, and Islam forbids figurative depictions.

Greece condemned “another provocation towards believers and the international community”.

The conversion of Hagia Sophia and the ancient Chora Church into mosques was interpreted by many observers as an attempt to galvanize President Erdogan’s conservative and nationalist electoral base, in the context of economic difficulties exacerbated by the Covid pandemic at the time.

Both Hagia Sophia and Saint-Sauveur-in-Chora are located in the historic parts of Istanbul, on the UNESCO World Heritage List.