Birds and other decorative details from Chora/Kariye
07.03.2026 16:02
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Birds and other decorative details from Chora/Kariye
Walls of Blachernai (modern Ayvansaray), once in the northwestern corner of the City
Golden Gate and the moat of the Theodosian Walls, now
a Yedikule bostan ("garden")
Details from the base of the Theodosian Obelisk, which was erected in the hippodrome around 390.
Pege Gate (Silivrikapı), one of the main gates of Constantinople’s Theodosian Walls
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Very sad to hear of the passing of Prof. Dr. Katja Marasović, who contributed greatly to scientific research on Diocletian's Palace and historic Split, as well as to her students, family, and community. She was a wonderful host and shared so much knowledge when I visited Split, Croatia.
The Sphendone consists of a series of massive vaults of the Hippodrome of Constantinople that were built into the slope. Just to the south is the former Sergius and Bacchus church, now Küçük Ayasofya Camii (“Little Hagia Sophia Mosque”).
Historic photo by David Talbot-Rice (1927)
Gül Camii (“Rose Mosque”), possibly the former the Church of St. Theodosia
Photos taken today
Galata Tower on a snowy day in 2022
Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) and the Marmara Sea at sunset
Walled Galata from miniature of Ottoman Kostantiniyye by Matrakçı Nasuh (1537)
Hırami Ahmed Paşa Mescidi, formerly the Middle Byzantine church of St. John Prodromos in Troullo
Photo by Arthur Kingsley Porter (c. 1918)
Galata Tower, dome of Zeyrek Mosque/formerly Pantokrator Monastery, marble revetment of Kalenderhane Mosque/Kyriotissa Monastery, and the Column of Constantine and Nuruosmaniye Mosque
Photos taken today
The Annunciation to St. Anne
“Alas…I am not like the birds of the sky, for the birds of the heavens are fruitful before you, oh Lord.” From the Gospel (Protoevangelium) of James
As St. Anne prays in the garden, an angel announces that she will bear a child (the Virgin Mary).
Μ(ήτ)ηρ Θ(εο)ῦ ἡ χώρα τοῦ ἀχωρήτου
“Mother of God, the dwelling-place (chora) of the uncontainable”
Inscription from the mosaic of the Virgin Blachernitissa at Chora/Kariye Camii
Photo from today's visit
Gold background of the Deesis Mosaic at Hagia Sophia
15th-century medallion with Imperator Mehmet the Conqueror, Painting of Suleiman the Magnificent, Watercolor of Hagia Sophia by Ali Sami Boyar, and Kariye/Chora by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1955)
At Artİstanbul Feshane /İBB (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality)
Siege of Constantinople in 1453
Illustration by Jean Le Tavernier (c. 1450s)
MSS fr. 9087 (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Ephesus through the ages
Roman terrace house with mosaic of a lion, Roman winged Nike (Victoria), Monogram of Justinian on capital from the Basilica of St. John (built in the 6th century), and İsa Bey Mosque (built for the Aydinids in the 14th century)
Fresco of the Virgin Eleousa (“Virgin of Tenderness”) at Chora/Kariye Camii
Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine (plus the Temple of Romulus and more) from the Forum Romanum (Roman Forum) in Rome
Andronikos III Palaiologos (r. 1328-1341) and Anna of Savoy (†1365)
From Cod.hist.fol.601 at Württembergische Landesbibliothek
Ambo (pulpit) of the basilica church (c. late 5th-early 6th century) built by the Hellenistic theater of Priene, an Ionian city of the Aegean/modern Aydın Province
Reconstruction of the ambo by Stephan Westphalen
King David with Wisdom (Σοφια) and Prophecy (Προφητεια) from the Paris Psalter
Constantinople, c. 900
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Frescoes in the natural “Cave of Christ” (İsa Mağarası) at Mount Latmos (Beşparmak Dağları), which is located near Lake Bafa in Muğla Province.
See link below for video on the cave and its frescoes
