I was quite disappointed a month ago when I went to that mosque and found out that absolutely nothing can make you have the impression that a Byzantine emperor was buried there. Moreover, I had the impression that there's an intention to erase Byzantine traces in the city, as the Chora church was closed because of works and the façade was totally covered and invisible. Thanks for the video!
Yes the Myrelaion was badly damaged by fire more than once so nothing much is left. I wait to see with Chora. The building has been under scaffolding since at least 2018 with different parts of the building undergoing restoration. I really hope that the conversion to a mosque does not prevent visitors from seeing the mosaics and frescoes. The vast majority of which are not in the nave where I assume prayers would take place.
@@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast Supposdely they're adding retractable tarpets to the interior whwich basically cover up everything higher than 3 meters or so during prayer time (aswell as the lower wall mosaics). They did the same thing with Hagia Sophia in Trabzon, which hit the tourism industry there quite badly. Got no clue what the point of making it a mosque is if you're going to cover up 2/3rds of the building during prayer time, but I guess it's better than the alternative.
The magnificent Monastery of the Myrelaion was used from the beginning by Emperor Romanos Lekapenos as the burial place for his family. The first person to be buried there was his wife Theodora, in December 922 AD, followed by his eldest son and co-emperor Christopher, who died in 931 AD. By doing so, Romanos interrupted a six-century-old tradition, whereby almost all the Byzantine emperors since Constantine I were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Truly a formidable Byzantine Greek religious monument.
Commenting this late and you probably won't see but thank you for making me a massive byzantine nerd, I think I genuinely might like their story better then classical romes and your incredible podcast is to thank for that (also crusader kings 3 allowing me to play out the events you tell me lol)
Romanos Lecapenus Maybe the greatest Roman Emperor. His peace with the Bulgarians played a huge role in the future success of the Macedonian dynasty. It seems many a time the Romans let their pride stand in the way of peace. Romanos’ willingness to give the Bulgarians the title of tzar could show a vision that few emperors had.
I was quite disappointed a month ago when I went to that mosque and found out that absolutely nothing can make you have the impression that a Byzantine emperor was buried there. Moreover, I had the impression that there's an intention to erase Byzantine traces in the city, as the Chora church was closed because of works and the façade was totally covered and invisible. Thanks for the video!
Yes the Myrelaion was badly damaged by fire more than once so nothing much is left. I wait to see with Chora. The building has been under scaffolding since at least 2018 with different parts of the building undergoing restoration. I really hope that the conversion to a mosque does not prevent visitors from seeing the mosaics and frescoes. The vast majority of which are not in the nave where I assume prayers would take place.
@@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast Oh, so it's being converted to a mosque? Shocking!
@@DiomedesDioscuro I'm afraid so www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/01/11/has-turkey-halted-plans-to-turn-chora-museum-into-a-mosque
@@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast
Supposdely they're adding retractable tarpets to the interior whwich basically cover up everything higher than 3 meters or so during prayer time (aswell as the lower wall mosaics). They did the same thing with Hagia Sophia in Trabzon, which hit the tourism industry there quite badly.
Got no clue what the point of making it a mosque is if you're going to cover up 2/3rds of the building during prayer time, but I guess it's better than the alternative.
@@marvelfannumber1 It's entirely political there really is no point otherwise.
The magnificent Monastery of the Myrelaion was used from the beginning by Emperor Romanos Lekapenos as the burial place for his family.
The first person to be buried there was his wife Theodora, in December 922 AD, followed by his eldest son and co-emperor Christopher, who died in 931 AD. By doing so, Romanos interrupted a six-century-old tradition, whereby almost all the Byzantine emperors since Constantine I were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles.
Truly a formidable Byzantine Greek religious monument.
Commenting this late and you probably won't see but thank you for making me a massive byzantine nerd, I think I genuinely might like their story better then classical romes and your incredible podcast is to thank for that (also crusader kings 3 allowing me to play out the events you tell me lol)
Romanos Lecapenus Maybe the greatest Roman Emperor. His peace with the Bulgarians played a huge role in the future success of the Macedonian dynasty. It seems many a time the Romans let their pride stand in the way of peace. Romanos’ willingness to give the Bulgarians the title of tzar could show a vision that few emperors had.
Hey there, really enjoyed the video. Would love to get these as audio only, are you on audea?