This gallery contains photos of the Byzantine art and architecture of the Church of the Holy Savior (now the Kariye Museum), Hagia Sophia, both museums located in Istanbul, and the Sumela Monastery, a Greek-Orthodox monastery first built in 386 A.D. located near Trabzon. It is now a museum, but on the Feast of the Assumption, a service attended by Greek and Russian Orthodox is allowed to be held. When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, all Christian art was plastered over or destroyed. (Christians are guilty of the same behavior in past centuries.) It is heartbreaking not to be able to see these beautiful Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in all their glory.