Istanbul Palaces |
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The Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors, which was a city within a city, was located somewhere between the present Sultanahmed Square and the sea. This great complex of buildings, churches, gardens, halls and corridors, that had been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin long before the Ottoman conquest, have left two important remains, both of which can be seen to this day. One of these is a building with large arches and vaults by the sea in the Çatladıkapı vicinity. This ruin, the last remains of the Hormisdas or Bukeleon Palace (also known as Justinian's House), has a number of windows opening onto the Sea of Marmara. This, and the balcony which was at one time under the windows, gives us some idea of what this 6th century waterside palace must have looked like. The tower on the city walls which lies next to this ruin was the lighthouse, or Pharos, from which a watch was kept for smoke signals from beacons signalling an attack coming from the east of Anatolia. It is also possible that the remains of a structure with a mosaic floor unearthed during the construction of a building on the other Side of the railway line in recent years are the last remains of the Church of Pharos Meryem known to have stood within the boundaries of the Great palace. Slightly to the west of the building with arches and vaults that is accepted as the Hormisdas Palace or Justianian's House, there is a tower facing the sea with big arches that have been filled up, this was obviously the royal landing-place from which the emperor embarked and disembarked from the sovereign's caique. Another important survival of the Great Palace of the Byzantines is the large mosaic floor lying between the buildings of the 'arasta' or row of shops, built as an addition to the mosque complex, which is located behind the Sultanahmet Mosque. These mosaics were probably intended as decoration for a courtyard built some time during the 5th century. They have a frame and a white background on which magnificent scenes depicting various domestic animals, beasts of prey and legendary creatures, as well as hunting scenes and fights between animals have been drawn. These mosaics, discovered by the English in 1936, deteriorated in the course of time and large parts of them were removed. However, some of the mosaic was later replaced and this area is now open to the public as the Mosaic Museum. The Blakhernai Palaces, which were preferred by the Byzantine emperors as residences from the l2th century until the Ottoman conquest, were located in what is now the Eğripkapı neighbourhood above the Ayvansaray district.Although this palace completely vanished after the conquest, it is considered that the cellars next to the city walls in front of the İvaz Efendi Mosque at Eğrikapı were part of the palace. These cellars later became famous as the Anemas Dungeons. The last representative of the Blakhernai Palaces group is the Tekfur palace, of which the remains of four walls can still be seen next to the walls of the city. The ruins of this palace on the Golden Horn side of Edirnekapı were at one time a pavilion of the Blakhernai Palaces. Although it is not known when this three-storey palace with its wooden roof, standing on one of the vantage points of the city, was built, we do know that during the l2th century the emperor Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180) had a "lofty palace with a view of the city, the sea and the lands lying behind" built . It is highly probable that the palace referred to in these words was the Tekfur Palace. The bricks and stones used to decorate the outer walls, arches and window frames of the palace with geometric designs gave it an extremely attractive appearance. Although it is known that there were other private palaces in the city, only their cellars have been found. There was the Manganoi Palace, built in the 11th century between Gülhane and Ahırkapı. And within the city a cellar located in Cemalnadir Street (formerly Acımusluk) is considered to be part of the basement of the private palace of Botaniates, who was emperor for a short time. The foundations of the Bryas Palace, built by the emperor Theophilos (829-842) on the Asian side in the first half of the 9th century, in Arab style can be seen at Küçükyalı, near Bostancı.The ramains of these cellars, which are rectangular and had been surrounded with columns and galleries surmounted by domes, obviously reflect the layout of the palace that once lay above it. |
