Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Chora Church. The image of Jesus is very similar to the mosaic in the Haghia Sofia. Historians believe it was modeled after the famous giant icon that stood over the city's main gate since the earliest years of the city. It was destoyed by the Iconoclasts in 729 AD -- a movement that felt icons were blasphemous. They destroyed most of the greatest works of art in Byzantium and over the centuries iconoclasm would flare up destroying more. This, most of the mosaics and frescoes date to the 14th century when Theodore Metochites, a official under the Emperor Andronicus II became the church's principal patron.