GREAT PALACE MOSAICS MUSEUM

Sultanahmet, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'15.2"N 28°58'38.8"E / 41.004231, 28.977445



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The Museum of Great Palace Mosaics is located in Arasta Bazaar within the Sultanahmet Mosque compound. The museum constituted in such a way that containing the mosaic pavement partially intact in the northeast section of the arcaded yard of the Great Palace of East-Roman period is an organizational unit of Hagia Sophia Museum.

Mosaics exhibited in the Museum of Great Palace Mosaics which have been dated to AD 450-550 are magnificent in terms of both art and wealth of portrayal scenes. Only a part of 180 m2 of the mosaic area which had been prepared by numerous master artists led by the prominent masters of the day is revealed. The average dimension of mosaic stones is 5 mm and they consist of limestone, earthenware and colored stones.

Portrayals are "Opus vermiculatum" and placed in between marble pieces. As for the white marble sections on the background, "fish scale technique" has been applied. In addition, the surroundings of the portrayals forming the mosaic are bordered by contours.

There are no religious themes in mosaics. Instead, daily life, nature and mythology are examined. Some of these scenes are lizard eating gryphon, elephant and lion fight, lactation of mare, goose herding children, goat milking man, a child feeding his donkey, a young girl carrying a pot, apple eating bears, and fight of hunter and tiger. The Museum of Great Palace Mosaics had been bonded to Archeology Museums of İstanbul in 1953, while it has been is an organizational unit of the directorate of Hagia Sophia Museum.

The Mosaic Museum of Istanbul hosts a collection of archeological discovers at the Great Palace of Constantinople. The mosaics were first  discovered in 1933, during some excavations that took place on a site identified as the floor of a peristyle courtyard of the Great Palace. (under what is now the Arasta Bazaar). Later in the 1950's other mosaics were found and the museum was built near the site.

The museum hosts the mosaics used to decorate the pavement of a peristyle court, dating possibly to the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527-565). It was uncovered by British archaeologists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland during extensive excavations at the Arasta Bazaar in Sultan Ahmet Square in 1935-1938 and 1951-1954. The museum has informative panels documenting the floor's history, rescue and renovation.

The area formed part of the south-western Great Palace, and the excavations discovered a large peristyle courtyard, with a surface of 1872 m2, entirely decorated with mosaics. It was at this point that the Austrian Academy of Sciences, supervised by Prof. Dr. Werner Jobst, undertook to study and preserve the famous palace mosaic and to carry out additional archeological examinations (1983-1997) within the scope of a cooperative project with the Directorate General of Monuments and Museums in Turkey.

When archaeologists from the University of Ankara and the University of St Andrews (Scotland) excavated around the Arasta Bazaar at the rear of the Blue Mosque in the 1930s and 1950s, they uncovered a stunning mosaic pavement featuring hunting and mythological scenes. Dating from early Byzantine times, it was restored from 1983 to 1997 and is now preserved in this museum. Thought to have been added by Justinian to the Great Palace of Byzantium, the pavement is estimated to have measured from 3500 to 4000 sq m in its original form.

The 250 sq m that is preserved here is the largest discovered remnant - the rest has been destroyed or remains buried underneath the Blue Mosque and surrounding shops and hotels. The pavement is filled with bucolic imagery and has a gorgeous ribbon border with heart-shaped leaves. In the westernmost room is the most colourful and dramatic picture, that of two men in leggings carrying spears and holding off a raging tiger.

This museum is situated just off Sultanahmet Square and houses the mosaics uncovered from the remains of the Great Palace of Constantinople, which was originally built in 328 as a counterpart for the Palatine Palace in Rome and re-done during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I in around 550 (just before the incredible achievement that was the building of the Hagia Sophia). The museum is situated near the palace itself, and the mosaics, which formed the peristyle courtyard, were unearthed beside the Arasta Bazaar in the 1930s and 1950s.

The mosaics are reproduced in the museum in the form that they would have appeared in the courtyard. They are made up of an estimated 80 million tesserae of colored glass, brick, limestone, and semi-precious stone. The pictures depicted on the mosaics are mostly of everyday Byzantine life (hunters spearing a tiger, monkeys catching birds, children herding ducks, and a man milking a goat, among other things).

Most interestingly, there is a scene depicting children playing with a hoop, wearing green and blue colors that are thought to evoke the famous “Greens and Blues” of the racing chariot teams at the Hippodrome. Eastern Roman mosaics dating back a millennium-and-a-half are set to get their first touch-up in almost three decades at the Istanbul Restoration and Conservation Laboratory to give them a more modern look.

“As part of a new project, there are plans for a new display at the [Great Palace Mosaic] Museum. As such, the mosaics should be restored again because the former restoration was carried out with the methods of the 1950s,” said Istanbul Restoration and Conservation Laboratory Director Ali Osman Avşar. The mosaics were unearthed from the ground of the Great Palace in 1932. Hayrullah Cengiz, director of the Hagia Sophia Museum, which is affiliated with the Great Palace Mosaics Museum, said the palace mosaics were the only artifacts that had been unearthed from the area and taken under protection.

“As the years have passed, we see that the museum building has become old. We have prepared a building survey and restoration project for the museum. It has been approved by the relevant institutes. When the project is finished, it will be a better museum than its current situation,” Cengiz said. Every year, nearly 100,000 tourists visit the museum, which was opened in 1987, Cengiz said, noting that the facility would be closed to visits during the restoration process.

Avşar said the mosaics were unearthed during excavations in 1930s and moved to the museum for protection in the 1950s. Later on, in accordance with a protocol signed with the Austrian Sciences Academy, the mosaics were restored, Avşar added.

He said meticulous work was very important in the mosaic restoration. “One of the problems we will have here is that cement mortar was used in the restoration of the mosaics in the 1950s. Today, cement is a material that we don’t want to use because it contains soluble salts that damage tesserae. We will analyze the soluble salts to see if cement mortar damaged the tesserae or not. Then we will decide on the conservation method. But most probably, these salts have gone over the many years. Later on, we will work on aesthetic interventions.”

Avşar said they would also clean the mosaic panels and that the mosaic pieces would be examined one by one after cleaning work, with teams set to reinforce damaged pieces. Avşar said another important stage of the project was documentation. Noting that the purpose of conservation was to protect the artifacts, the laboratory director said: “Conservation neither changes an artifact’s historical identity nor its aesthetics. The museum is home to over 100 mosaic pieces. This is why the conservation work may take 1.5-2 years.”

Biggest landscape portraits that still survive. The mosaics, which date back to 450-550 A.D. and are on display at the Arasta Bazaar in the Sultanahmet Mosque complex, are very important in terms of the richness of their artistic scenes.

The mosaics, which were created by leading masters of the time for the ground of the Great Palace, were unearthed during excavations between 1932 and 1935. The mosaics depict daily life, nature and mythology. The mosaics at the Great Palace Mosaics Museum have 90 different themes depicting 150 human and animal figures. On a field of 250 square meters, the mosaics are believed to be the biggest ones to survive since Late Antiquity.

The Great Palace Mosaics Museum opened in 1953 as a unit affiliated with the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Since 1979, the museum has operated under the auspices of the Hagia Sophia Museum. As part of a contract between the General Directorate of Monuments and Museums and the Austrian Sciences Academy, restoration and conservation works were also conducted on the mosaics in the 1980s.

In ancient times, the palatial hill from the Sea of Marmara to the Hippodrome. The palatial district extended from Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome to the cost line, where the sea wall acted as a mighty boundary of great military value. Its basic layout, first determined by Emperor Constantine, soon housed a collection of state buildings with courtvards, throne rooms and auidience rooms, churces and chappels gardens and fountains, libraries, assembly buildings, thermal baths and stadiums.

Throughout the centuries palaces decayed due to fires, earthquakes, and other reasons. Finally, whatever remained was covered by earth. British scientists from the University of St. Andrews in Edinburg made extensive excavations at the Arasta Bazaar in Sultan Ahmet square (1935-38) and (1951-54). This partly opened up one of the south-western buildings, so called “Great Palace”. The Great Palace had got a big courtyart with perisyle (1872 m2).

It was decorated with mosaics. It was at this point that the Austrian Academy of Sciences undertook to rescue, (Supervised by Prof. Dr. Werner Jobst) study and preserve the famous palace mosaic and to carry out additional archaeological examinations (1983-1997) within the scape of a cooperation project with the Directorate General of Monuments and Museums in Turkey. When the peristylle of The Great Palace was redone under Justinian I. (527-565), The Great Palace mosaic was the largest and the most beautiful landscape in antiqity (the 6th century A.D).

No where in the world of late antiquity can we find a building with a tessellated pavement of similar size and perfection of workmanship. It was probably made by an imperial workshop that surely has employed the best craftmen gathered from all corners of the Empire, guided by a master artist. It is this circumstance which makes it difficult to compare the piece with creations, and thus to date it by means of typological and stilistic methods.Composing the tessalated pavement, with its many coloured lime, terracotta and glass cubes of 5 mm.

One square metre of floor space consumed about 40.000 cubes, which makes for 80.000.000 tesserae for entire area. The mosaic was brought to light only in fragments and sections, which together make-up about one seventieth of the original expance, but these suffice to convice us that it is one of the most magnificent compositions known to us from antique mosaic art.

In The Great Palace Mosaic the main field of the composition was 6 metres in width. On either side of its edge it is accompained by an exquisitely arranged border of folliage each 1.50 metres wide, sufficient to cover the entire hall 9 metres deep with a tesselleted pavement. The frame is dominated by a highly naturalistic acantus scroll. Acantus are filled with masked heads, exotic fruit and animals.The frame which symbolize a garden of eden. After frame when looking at the scenes we find a movement from left to right in the notheastern hall.

The pictures describe open-air scenes, the life of herdsmen the labour of peasants and the prowess of huntsmen. Scenes of children playing with Wilde beast and grazing animals alternate with mythological motifs animal fables and fabulous creatures from exotic countries, animals, hunting, games, bucolic scenes nature and myths are the leading themes in the succession of pictures. On surviving parts of the mosaic we still count 90 different themes populated by some 150 human and animal figures.

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WEB SITE : The Museum of Great Palace Mosaics

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : ayasofyamuzesi@kultur.gov.tr
Phone : +90 212 518 1205
Fax : +90 212 512 5474

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GREAT PALACE

Sultanahmet, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'26.0"N 28°58'49.0"E / 41.007222, 28.980278



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The palace was located between the ancient Hippodrome,Hagia Sophia and the Marmara Sea, behind the Blue Mosque today. The Great Palace was first built by Constantine in the 4th century , than used by later emperors until the 12th century. The Great Palace palace was abandoned during Latin Occupation between 1204-1261 when the emperors moved to the Blachernai Palaces (also known as Tekfur Palace).

Ruins of the palace that was the seat of government for the eastern Roman and Byzantine empires for more than a millennium have been found beneath Istanbul's streets, according to Alpay Pasinli, director of the Istanbul Museum of Archaeology, who oversaw the excavations. Restoration work on the Four Seasons Hotel, originally an Ottoman prison, led to the discovery, which lies between the Byzantine church Ayia Sophia, now a museum, and the entrance to the Topkapı Palace of the Ottoman sultans.

Byzantine palace remains exposed at ground level include several collapsed columns, water conduits, and a wall, possibly part of a tomb, with frescoes of a cross motif in yellow, red, and green. The ground breaks away at one point to reveal a large subterranean chamber constructed of vaulted brick arches and domes supported by 16-foot-tall stone columns. The domes are about ten feet in diameter and five feet high.

A number of narrow tunnels lead from the chamber, but their extent has not been determined. Early speculation was that they might be the pitae, archives housing manuscripts and icons. The structure's exact age is unclear. Pasinli, who is not a Byzantinist, told Reuters it was of the fifth century, but in other reports it has been dated to the sixth or ninth century; Halil Ozek, another archaeologist involved in the excavations, told the New York Times that it was of ninth-century date.

Construction of the palace began under Constantine, who moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the city in A.D. 330. Expanded over a number of centuries, the palace included ceremonial halls, churches, and gardens on 100 acres of land extending from the Hippodrome, now Sultanahmet Square, to the Sea of Marmara. By the time Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople in 1453, it had fallen into disrepair and was largely abandoned.

The Ottomans sited their palace partly on the ruins of the old one, the rest of the Byzantine complex being buried beneath centuries of other buildings. The site's future is uncertain. Pasinli is no longer speaking to reporters after the Turkish press alleged that he was connected with artifact smuggling and that the palace discovery was a scam involving the hotel, which wanted to cash in on the find by converting part of the uncovered palace remains into a tourist bazaar.

None of these allegations is proven, but Pasinli is under investigation by the Ministry of Culture. Pasinli is on the Preservations Commission, which is charged with granting building permits for projects in areas of archaeological interest (the whole of Sultanahmet Square has been such an area since 1990). According to his detractors, Pasinli, who has powerful political, business, and union backers, has ensured passage of permit applications by the commission. One such application was for the restoration of the hotel.

What happened to the palace remains that must have been found during this work, which involved digging a large hole underneath the hotel, is unknown. The hotel, which also wanted to build on the site of the new discovery, paid the Istanbul Museum of Archaeology for the excavations there. Sources at the museum who are unfriendly to Pasinli say that the hotel is indeed looking for ways to incorporate the palace remains into a new building, possibly a reconstructed version of a nineteenth-century Ottoman one that stood there.

That the permit was granted is almost more surprising than the discovery of the palace remains. German archaeologists Theodore Wiegand and Ernst Mamboury witnessed the construction of the Ottoman prison, now the hotel, in 1911 and examined the palace sites not requiring excavation, publishing their findings in 1934. French archaeologists surveyed the area during the Allied occupation of the city following World War I, and two years ago Oxford University doctoral student Eugenia Bolognesi also surveyed it.

A Turkish team that has conducted a geophysical investigation of the area since 1990 has located hundreds of anomalies that may indicate buried structures. It initially recommended the closure of the area to traffic and to further building, but was overruled by Pasinli and the commission. Strangely, the geophysical team is now working for Pasinli. The Great Palace of Constantinople "Palatium Magnum" (Turkish: Büyük Saray) was the principal residence of Byzantine emperors from Constantine the Great to Alexios I and the symbolic nerve centre of the empire.

Also known as The Sacred Palace, it was the Byzantine equivalent of the Palatine in Rome. The Great Palace of Constantinople was a large complex of buildings and gardens situated on a terraced, roughly trapezoidal site, measuring 600×500 m, and overlooking the Sea of Marmara to the south-east. The complex was enclosed by the Hippodrome to the west, by the Regia (a ceremonial extension of the Mese), the Augustaion, and the Senate to the north, and by the sea walls to the south and east.

Modern understanding of the Great Palace depends heavily on the literary sources and, to a lesser degree, on the meagre archaeological evidence. Of the few archaeologically explored components of the palace complex, the largest is an apsed hall preceded by a large peristyle court with splendid floor mosaics, which feature hunting and pastoral scenes combined with figures from mythology.

The isolated nature of these finds and the ambiguity of the written sources preclude any comprehensive architectural reconstructions of the palace despite repeated attempts since the 19th century. In its scale and general character the Great Palace must have resembled a city, with numerous buildings, private harbors, avenues, open spaces, terraces, ramps and stairs, gardens, fountains and other amenities, built and rebuilt over nearly eight centuries.

Rebuilding of palace components at new locations, but retaining their old names, along with the changing functions and names of preserved buildings, are among the factors contributing to the confusion in the current state of knowledge about the Constantinople Great Palace. Notwithstanding these problems, it is possible to identify the main stages in its development. The initial phase, under the auspices of Constantine the Great, produced the core of the palace complex, which, by all accounts, must have resembled several other imperial palaces built during the Tetrarchy.

Constantine’s palace was an overtly urban complex, approached by the Regia. Adjacent to the Regia stood the large Baths of Zeuxippos, a public bath also related to the palace compound. The entire western flank of the Great Palace bordered the Hippodrome, while the so-called Kathisma - a component of the palace with the imperial box for viewing the Hippodrome races, and rooms for other ceremonial functions - provided a palpable link between the Great Palace and the city itself.

The second major phase in the development of the Great Palace occurred in the 6th century, during the reigns of Justinian I and Justin II. Justinian’s building programme was spurred in large measure by the damage caused by the Nika riots in 532, and it involved the rebuilding of structures along the north flank of the palace complex, including the Magnaura and the Chalke.

The latter’s ceiling was decorated with mosaics showing Justinian’s victories over the Vandals in North Africa (533-534) and the Goths in Italy and in part of Spain (535-555); in the centre of the ceiling was a portrait of the imperial couple surrounded by senators. Justin II is credited with the construction of the Chrysotriklinos, the octagonal domed throne-room, the resplendent decoration of which was finished by Tiberios I (578-582). The Chrysotriklinos became in effect the new ceremonial nucleus of the palace, modifying the original Constantinian layout.

The Great Palace was expanded again by Justinian II (685-695; 705-711), who built the Lausiakos and the Justinianos, two halls in the vicinity of the Chrysotriklinos. He is also credited with the construction of a wall enclosing the palace, and of another gate, the Skyla, on the south side. This development marks the end of an ‘open’ relationship between the palace and the city, characteristic of Late Antique imperial palaces in general. This change was brought about, in all likelihood, by the growing urban tensions and violence.

During the iconoclastic controversy (726-843) the Chalke acquired a particular significance in the arguments for and against the worship of images. On the building’s façade was an icon of Christ Chalkites (of the Chalke) shown standing on a footstool; in 726 or 730 Leo III Isaurikos (717-741) removed the icon and replaced it with a cross as the first overt act of imperial iconoclasm.

The image of Christ was restored around 787 by Empress Eirene, only to be removed once again by Leo V (813-820) in 813 and replaced by a cross at the start of the second period of iconoclasm. By that time the iconoclastic emperor Theophilos (829-842) had already begun the next major phase in the development of the Great Palace, which continued under Michael II, Basil I and Leo VI.

Theophilos was responsible for the strengthening of the sea walls and for a new two-storey ceremonial complex centred on the Trikonchos, preceded by the Sigma court and surrounded by other pavilions. In its general character, this complex owed as much to the Late Antique palatine tradition as it probably did to the palaces of the Umayyads, with whom Theophilos is known to have maintained close cultural contacts.

Michael III is noted for several building restorations (particularly of the Chrysotriklinos) and adaptations, but his most celebrated addition to the Great Palace was the church of the Virgin of Pharos "Lighthouse", renowned for the relics it contained and for its splendour, if not for its size.

By far the best-known church to be added to the Great Palace was the five-domed Nea Ekklesia under the auspices of Basil I. This emperor was responsible for one of the most extensive building programmes to the Great Palace, which must have substantially altered its appearance. Among his additions were two halls, known as the Kainourgion (the New Hall) and the Pentakoubiklon (a room divided into five bays), and a large court for polo games, known as the Tzykanisterion.

Leo VI is credited with the construction of a sumptuously decorated bathhouse. In the following centuries the amount of construction within the Great Palace of Constantinople diminished. During the reign of Nikephoros II Phokas (963-969) another line of fortification walls was erected, apparently enclosing the shrunken core of the Great Palace.

The final decline of the Great Palace began under Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118), who moved the imperial residence to the new palace of Blachernai. Despite this shift, the Great Palace retained its ceremonial role for some time to come. Even some new construction occurred, as under Manuel I (1143-1180), who built two halls: the Manouelites and the Mouchroutas. The latter, known to have been the work of a Persian builder, had a painted and gilded stalactite ceiling akin to such ceilings in Islamic architecture.

During the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204-61) the Great Palace was used, but was also despoiled of its major treasures. The Palaiologan emperors (1261-1453) never attempted to restore the abandoned, slowly decaying complex. Its final demise came in 1489-1490, when a large quantity of gunpowder stored in one of the old buildings exploded, obliterating most of the surviving remnants.

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