Kariye

It is 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 aims 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.

Born into a well-established Byzantine family, Theodore Metochites (1270-1332) became one of the most prominent political and intellectual figures of the Late Byzantine Empire. His immense learning and broad scholarly interests make him a worthy equal to other famous Byzantine polymaths of previous centuries. Metochites' remarkable career in the imperial bureaucracy of Constantinople followed a long-standing Byzantine tradition by which emperors patronized loyal and learned men. He was unique, however, in the world of Byzantine scholar-bureaucrats as he attained unparalleled power and gathered enormous wealth that enabled him to become a patron of the arts and letters himself.

Relatively late in his life, Theodore Metochites also began writing poetry and his twenty poems composed mostly in the 1320s have come down to us in a single manuscript. The poetry contained in this volume contributes to a fuller portrait of the personality, opening a window into his emotional world. In some poems, we see Metochites joyous and proud of his achievements, among them the restoration and embellishment of the Chora monastery, in others we see him bemoaning his fall from power and his exile.