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Byzantium Preserved

PATRICK BROGAN

JOHN ASH, in A Byzantine Journey, opines that the former Church of the Savior in Chora—the Chora Church, or Kariye Camii—and its mosaics and frescoes “constitute one of the supreme masterpieces of European art, and deserve to be placed on a level with the nearly contemporary work of Giotto or the greatest achievements of the High Renaissance.” He concludes that “without the art of the Chora the world would be an impoverished place.” Like Aya Sofya, this beautiful monument is deserving of several hours of your time. (A tip: you may want to bring binoculars if you have them for closer observation of the mosaics and frescoes, most of which are on the ceiling.)

By the way, a morning visit would be supremely topped off by lunch at Asitane, the restaurant of the Kariye Oteli hotel, right next door. Since 1991, Asitane has been collecting authentic recipes from sources such as the kitchen registers of Topkapı, Dolmabahçe, and Edirne palaces; books and memoirs by visiting overseas officials; and a book dating from 1539 detailing the circumcision ceremony of the two sons of Süleyman the Magnificent. The restaurant now has an archive of more than two hundred original recipes and serves the dishes, in season, with their original Ottoman names. Whether you eat inside or in the outdoor courtyard, you will not only experience one of the most unusual meals of your life, you will enjoy it literally in the shadow of one of the world’s most beautiful museums. (The Kariye Oteli, once under the auspices of the Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey, is a lovely place to stay as well, with a tasteful, early-1900s décor and all contemporary conveniences at a reasonable price. (Kariye Camii Sokak 6, Edirnekapi / +90 212 534 8414 / kariyeotel.com; more about Asitane may be found on its Web site, asitanerestaurant.com)

PATRICK BROGAN has penned many pieces for Connoisseur (no longer published), where this piece originally appeared in 1983.

THE TWENTIETH century has been hard on Istanbul. A queen among cities, on seven high hills surrounded by water, facing Asia and the Bosporus, Istanbul still boasts beautiful public monuments: Justinian’s Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) and splendid mosques of the Ottomans. But like Paris since 1945, Istanbul has felt the crushing weight of peasantry moving off the land and into the city. And though Turkish real-estate speculators are less wealthy and destructive than their Parisian counterparts, Turkey lacks the resources available to France for saving its architectural heritage.

As a result, the lesser monuments, particularly the Byzantine ones, are collapsing into ruin all over the city, and the distinctive wooden houses of the Ottoman period have been swept away as though Istanbul, like Dresden or Tokyo, had been consumed by fire. They have been replaced by blocks of concrete apartments, characterless and international, the sort of building to be seen in every other city on the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona to Tel Aviv.

In this wasteland, therefore, it is a delight and a relief to find one corner of the city where something is being preserved. The Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey, guided by its director, Çelik Gülersoy, has taken upon itself the task of restoring and preserving the wooden houses around the Kariye Camii, which is the Turkish name for the Byzantine Church of the Savior in Chora. The church is a masterpiece, and until Mr. Gülersoy intervened, the concrete was marching irresistibly toward it. Now, gardens have been laid out behind the church, the houses have been restored and painted, unsightly buildings have been removed, and many of the houses have been converted into bed-and-breakfast lodgings for tourists. One is now a very pleasant café-restaurant in the Turkish manner.

Chora means “fields” or “country” in Greek; thus, some historians believe that a church was first built there before Theodosius constructed the walls that enclosed it within the city. The present church is near the walls, where