Pictorial Imagery & Layers of Meaning | Kariye Camii | Briefing | Professor Ousterhout

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Kariye Camii | Pictorial Imagery & Layers of Meaning
Professor Ousterhout

A temporal theme appears in the frescoes of the parecclesion, the funeral chapel for the burial of Theodore Metochites. Here we find the promise of salvation dramatically emphasized by imagery that evokes past, present, and future as if occurring simultaneously. Together with the programs of the narthexes, they form a series of interrelated narratives, and the frescoes of the parecclesion serve in many ways as the culmination of the other cycles. As one moves into the chapel, there is a subtle transformation of emphasis from the Incarnation of Christ to Salvation, with numerous references to the subjects represented in the narthex cycles. The program of the parecclesion begins with imagery devoted to the Virgin, but the message is shifted to the promise of Salvation for the faithful.

The layers of time in the frescoes emphasize the eternal reward of the faithful in the Land of the Living. The past is represented by scenes from the Old and New Testament: the prefigurations of the Virgin refer to the Incarnation, but more importantly emphasize her role in Salvation. The program culminates in the dramatic scene of the Anastasis, which links the two levels of the past, as Christ raises up Adam and Eve. These scenes of the biblical past act as a preparation for the future, represented by the Last Judgment in the eastern domical vault, in which the dead are called to their final reckoning at the end of time.

The Anastasis, based on the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, was the standard Byzantine representation of Christ's Resurrection. Christ strides boldly, clad in radiant white, lifting Adam and Eve from their sarcophagi. Beneath his feet, Satan lies bound and gagged, and the gates of hell are scattered about.

The unique representation of the Last Judgment fills the domical vault and most of the eastern bay's supporting walls. Little in the iconography is unusual: the Last Judgment follows earlier models. Here the emphasis is on the future, the "last things"—-death, final judgment, immortality in heaven or eternal punishment in the fires of hell. Christ raises his right hand to show that those on his right are saved, whereas the downward gesture of his left hand indicates that those on his left are damned. To Christ's right are scenes of heavenly reward. The fiery stream issues from the Christ's left side, leading to the lake of fire and torments of the damned in Hell.

Joining Christ and the Virgin

To emphasize the dual dedication of the Kariye Camii, with the church dedicated to Christ and the monastery dedicated to the Virgin, as well as the significance of the Virgin to Salvation, there is a sort of "women's equality" in the decoration: Christ and the Virgin appear regularly in pendant images. Their lives are set parallel in the two narthexes, and their images in the dome medallions are matched sets. The Deesis mosaic shows Christ and the Virgin with an imperial male and an imperial female donor kneeling at their feet. In Christ's miracles, those involving men are often set opposite those involving women, this is clear in the south bay of the inner narthex. In the parecclesion, scenes of Christ raising from the dead the daughter of Jairus and the widow's son flank the apse. Pendant images of Christ and the Virgin appeared on the walls below. And the parecclesion apse itself shows the Anastasis with Christ raising up simultaneously Adam and Eve, the scene was more commonly Christ raising Adam while Eve stands by. Because Christ was regarded as the new Adam, and the Virgin the new Eve, the Anastasis provides a vivid culmination to the decorative program, as well as to the sub-theme of gender symmetry.

Continue here for a fuller exploration of the pictorial imagery.

Consider the artistic integration of architecture and decoration in relation to similar concerns in High or Late Gothic architecture.