Chora Church, also known as the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, was originally built in the early 4th century as part of a monastery complex outside the city walls of Constantinople.
The name “chora” relates to the Greek word for town and references the church's originally rural location outside the city.
Once a Byzantine church, later transformed into an Ottoman mosque, and then a museum, it embodies the deep and complex layers of Istanbul's cultural and religious history.
Lies within: the interior is adorned with some of the finest surviving mosaics and frescoes of the Late Byzantine period.
Most of the fresco paintings depict stories from the Bible, and scenes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary with remarkable beauty and emotion.