Erdogan transforms the historic Byzantine monastery of Chora into a mosque

Another historic Byzantine church in Constantinople, Chora Monastery, becomes a mosque by decision Erdogan.

The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to attend a ceremony marking the completion of the General Directorate of Institutions’ projects to preserve 201 historical monuments, including Chora Monastery.

As planned, during a ceremony held at the Convention Center of the Presidential Palace in Ankara, President Erdogan will directly contact Hora Monastery.

Previous reports had set the opening date of the historic Byzantine church with its priceless mosaics on approximately February 23, but the General Directorate of Endowments in Turkey denied this, announcing that the Hora Monastery would operate as a mosque in May.

The projects lasted four years.

The Church of Agios Sotiros in Chora, the Catholic church of what was once a monastic complex, dates back to the 6th century AD, while the unique mosaics and frescoes were created in the 14th century, from 1305 to 1320, during the reign of Palaiologos.

It is the monument containing the most elaborate Byzantine mosaics preserved in Constantinople, along with Hagia Sophia and the Pamakaristos Monastery, which also functions as a mosque called Fethiye. Hagia Sophia was also dedicated to Islamic religious worship in 2020.

Chora Monastery was converted into a mosque in 1511, 58 years after the fall of the city. However, by decision of the Turkish Council of Ministers, in 1945 it became a museum.

After this decision, specialists from the United States of America carried out a huge restoration and maintenance project for the mosaics and frescoes, removing the plaster that covered them. Work began in 1948, and was completed ten years later, in 1958.

But in 2019, the Turkish Council of State (Danistay) rescinded the 1945 decision, and a year later, President Erdogan announced that the memorial would once again serve as a mosque.