Trabzon Hagia Sophia

Church Of The Komnenian Empire Of Trebizond, Built About 1238 1263; A Museum From 1964 And Reconverted To A Mosque In 2013 · Trabzon, Trabzon

For two and a half centuries after 1204 there was a separate Greek empire on the Black Sea coast, ruled from Trebizond by the Komnenos family, and this is the best thing it left. The church was built about 1238-1263 on a bluff above the sea, and what makes it matter is the painting: a complete programme of thirteenth-century fresco, unusually well preserved, along with a carved exterior frieze of Adam and Eve running above the south porch that has no real parallel. It became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1461, served as a hospital and a depot, was restored by a team from Edinburgh and opened as a museum in 1964, and was reconverted to a mosque in 2013. That last change is what a visitor needs to know: the frescoes in the main prayer space have been covered or curtained, and how much is visible has varied since. Check before making a journey for the paintings. The carved frieze outside is visible whatever happens indoors.

Fatih Mahallesi, Ayasofya Caddesi, Ortahisar, Trabzon, Trabzon, Turkiye

Open daily and free as a working mosque, closing to visitors around the five daily prayers and for longer at Friday midday. WHAT IS VISIBLE HAS CHANGED: since the 2013 reconversion the frescoes in the main space have been covered or curtained during prayer and the arrangements have been altered more than once. Confirm what is on view before travelling for the paintings.

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