Great Palace of Constantinople
The Great Palace of Constantinople, also known as the Sacred Palace, was the large imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as Old Istanbul, in modern Turkey. It served as the main imperial residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors until 1081 and was the centre of imperial administration for over 690 years. Only a few remnants and fragments of its foundations have survived into the present day.
A scene from the scroll border of the Great Palace Mosaic, a mosaic floor of scenes from daily life and mythology in a hall of yet unidentified uses and controversial date.
One of the piers from the Great Palace, now in the courtyard of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums
Surviving part of the Magnaura
Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine the Great in 330. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence, the Turkish capital then moved to Ankara. Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe, straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia, and the financial centre of Turkey.
Aerial view of Byzantine Constantinople and the Propontis (Sea of Marmara)
Hagia Sophia built in AD 537, during the reign of Justinian.
The Column of Constantine, built by Constantine I in 330 to commemorate the establishment of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire
This huge keystone found in Çemberlitaş, Fatih, might have belonged to a triumphal arch at the Forum of Constantine built by Constantine I.
