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The Great Palace Mosaics Museum (Büyük Saray Mozaikleri Müzesi) in Istanbul displays mosaics unearthed at the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople. The museum is included in the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Historic Areas of Istanbul.
Visiting
Admission to the Great Palace Mosaics Museum is €10 for foreigners (as of August 2024) or free for holders of the Museum Pass Istanbul. It’s open daily throughout the year. You can find the museum near the Arasta Bazaar in Sultanahmet, behind the Blue Mosque.
History
The Great Palace of Constantinople (Μέγα Παλάτιον / Palatium Magnum) was the main residence of Eastern Roman and Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081. It was also the center of administration for the Byzantine Empire during that time.
The palace was built by Constantine the Great and was expanded and rebuilt several times throughout its history. It was over 19,000 square meters (200,000 square feet) in area. When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II found the palace abandoned and in ruins. It was mostly demolished as the city was rebuilt by the Ottomans.
Excavations
Only 25% of the Great Palace of Constantinople has been excavated. The first excavations were carried out by French archaeologists between 1921 and 1923.
A team from the University of St Andrews in Scotland conducted further excavations from 1935 to 1938 and again from 1952 to 1954. They uncovered the mosaics on display at the Great Palace Mosaics Museum. The second session was led by English archaeologist David Talbot Rice (1903-1972).
The area contained in the museum was once a large peristyle courtyard measuring 1,872 square meters. Only 180 square meters of the mosaic area was unearthed.
A team from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, led by Prof. Dr. Werner Jobst, undertook a restoration and preservation project that lasted from 1982 to 1997. The museum opened shortly after.
Mosaics
The mosaics on display most likely date back to the reign of Heraclius (r. 610-631), but could possibly date back to the reign of Justinian I (r. 527-565). They represent scenes from nature, daily life, and mythology.
The mosaic grains are limestone, terra cotta, and colored stone and have an average size of five millimeters. There are 150 human and animal figures depicting 90 different themes.
