Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene, sometimes known also as Saint Irene, is an Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. It is the oldest known church in the city and the only Byzantine church in Istanbul that was never converted into a mosque, as it was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall.
Hagia Irene
Hagia Eirene (photo between 1888 and 1910). The current building dates from 532. Its predecessor was the first church building commissioned by Constantine in Constantinople.
Capital with monogram ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, "of the king"
The apse of the church with cross
The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.
View of the Topkapı Palace from the Golden Horn
Gate of Salutation
Sultan Mehmed II ordered the initial construction around the 1460s
Inside the Harem.