The stunning mosaics of Istanbul's 1,000-year-old Chora Church are at risk not from vandalism or theft but a legal order to transform the museum back into a mosque. The Church of St Savior in Chora, which was converted into the Kariye Mosque in the early 16th century by an Ottoman vizier, was designated a museum by the Turkish government in 1945. Its 14th-century frescos and mosaics are regarded among the world's finest examples of Byzantine art.
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