Constantinople

New English Paperback. 4to. (29 x 24 cm). In English and Turkish. 212 p., color and b/w ills. Kariye from Theodore Metochites to Thomas Whittemore: One monument, two monumental personalities.= Kariye: Bir anit, iki anitsal kisilik. Theodoros Metokhites'ten Thomas Whittemore'a. [Exhibition catalogue]. Texts by Holger A. Klein, Robert G. Ousterhout, Natalia Teteriatnikov, Dimiter Angelov, Jeffrey M. Featherstone. Displayed at Pera Museum, Kariye, from Theodoros Metokhites to Thomas Whittemore; One Monument, Two Monumental Personalities is comprised largely of objects and documents on loan from abroad, the exhibition narrates the story of Kraiye, one of the globally renowned monuments of Istanbul, as well as the extraordinary tales of two of its 'builders', who lived six centuries apart. At one end stands fellow townsman Theodoros Metokhites, Byzantine thinker, poet and politician, who shaped Kariye at the turn of the 14th century and adorned it with priceless mosaics and frescoes. On the other end is American renaissance man and archaeologist Thomas Whittemore, who passionately and meticulously restored this structure to its former grandeur in the 1940s, consequently bestowing it to the world of culture and art as a museum. In between lies the unconventional story of a structure shaped by the footprints of these remarkable men. The former church of the monastery of Christ of the Chora, better known today as the Kariye Camisi or Kariye Museum, is one of the most impressive Byzantine monuments to survive in the modern city of Istanbul. Founded probably as early as the sixth century, rebuilt by members of the imperial family in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, and splendidly restored by the Byzantine humanist, poet, and prime minister Theodore Metochites between 1316 and 1321, the church of the Chora Monastery is today considered one of the most outstanding examples of Late Byzantine art and architecture to survive. While the building itself was already known as the 'Mosaic Mosque' during the nineteenth century, the fame of the church's rich and complex interior decoration rests by and large on an extensive restoration campaign initiated by the American scholar and philanthropist Thomas Whittemore, founder and director of the Byzantine Institute of America from 1930 to his death in 1950. It was the aim of this exhibition, to explore the history of the "Kariye" through its representation over the centuries, and to pay homage to the two men who were responsible for its restoration and conservation in the fourteenth and twentieth centuries respectively: Theodore Metochites and Thomas Whittemore. The exhibition furthermore aimed to celebrate the work of those who have helped to preserve the architecture of the Kariye and its extraordinary cycle of mosaics and frescoes during the 1940s and 1950s.