To the renovation of the church Theodore Metochites devoted himself heart and soul, and spent money for that object on a lavish scale. As the central portion of the building was comparatively well preserved,[529] it was to the outer part of the edifice that he directed his chief attention--the two narthexes and the parecclesion. These were to a large extent rebuilt and decorated with the marbles and mosaics, which after six centuries, and notwithstanding the neglect and injuries they have suffered during the greater part of that period, still excite the admiration they awakened when fresh from the artist's hand. The connection of Theodore Metochites with this splendid work is immortalised not only by historians of his day and by himself,[530] but also by the mosaic which surmounts the main entrance to the church from the inner narthex. There the restorer of the building, arrayed in his official robes, and on bended knees, holds a model of the church in his hands and offers it to the Saviour seated on a throne. Beside the kneeling figure is the legend, [Greek: ho ktêtôr logothetês tou gennikou Theodôros ho Metochitês], 'The builder, Logothetes of the Treasury, Theodore the Metochites' (Plate XCI.). The restoration of the church must have been completed before the year 1321, for in that year Nicephorus Gregoras[531] describes it as then recently ([Greek: arti]) renovated, and in use for the celebration of divine service. How long before 1321 the work of repair precisely commenced cannot be determined, but it was in process as early as 1303, for that date is inscribed in Arabic numerals on the mosaic depicting the miracle at Cana, which stands to the right of the figure of Christ over the door leading from the outer to the inner narthex. But to have reached the stage at which mosaics could be applied the work of restoration must have been commenced sometime before 1303. [Illustration: PLATE LXXXIV. S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX.] [Illustration: S. SAVIOUR IN THE CHORA. CAPITAL IN THE OUTER NARTHEX. _To face page 300._]