Biography of a Landmark, the Chora Monastery and Kariye Camii in Constantinople/Istanbul from Late Antiquity to the 21st Century (Mediterranean Art Histories, 7)

This book explores the shifting meanings and functions of the Chora/Kariye Camii site over its long life. It provides a framework for understanding not only this building but, more generally, edifices that have undergone interventions and transformations within multicultural societies. With its reconversion to a mosque in August 2020, the former monastic church of Saint Saviour in Chora entered yet another phase of its long history. The present book examines the Chora/Kariye Camii site from a transcultural perspective, tracing its continuous transformations in form and function from Late Antiquity to the present day. Whereas previous literature has almost exclusively placed emphasis on the Byzantine phase of the building's history, including the status of its mosaics and paintings as major works of Palaiologan culture, this study is the first to investigate the shifting meanings with which the Chora/Kariye Camii site has been invested over time and across uninterrupted alterations, interventions, and transformations. Bringing together contributions from archaeologists, art historians, philologists, anthroplogists and historians, the volume provides a new framework for understanding not only this building but, more generally, edifices that have undergone interventions and transformations within multicultural societies.The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Contents Contents 6 Dedication and Acknowledgement 8 Figures 9 Notes on Contributors 14 Chapter 1 Introduction 18 Chapter 2 Theodore Metochites between Conservatism and Innovation: Linguistic Approaches at the Chora through the Lens of the Comparison of Demosthenes and Aristides 31 Chapter 3 Walking through the Narthex: the Rite in the Chora 48 Chapter 4 The Anastasis in the Funerary Chapel of Chora Monastery in Constantinople: Meaning and Historical Interpretations 91 Chapter 5 Tomb G at the Chora and the Illusion of Presence 117 Chapter 6 The Adjustment of Chora Monastery to Ottoman Use 152 Chapter 7 Dimitri Ismailovitch’s Copies of the Mosaics and Frescoes at the Kariye Camii: on the Destiny of Byzantine Artistic Heritage in Istanbul 166 Chapter 8 In the Presence of the Other: the Processes and Problematics of Co-Habiting Religious Sites 195 Index of Names 236 Index of Places and Monuments 239