The Great Palace


The Great Palace, the palace of the Byzantine emperors, occupied much of the east side of Constantinople, a short distance from the Hippodrome and Agia Sophia. It was not so much a single building as a complex, consisting of large banqueting and reception halls, libraries, churches, barracks, arcades, baths, courtyards and gardens, and the so-called Purple Room, where the children of ruling emperors were born. The original royal residence was the Palace of Daphne, built by Constantine the Great when Constantinople was founded; very little is known about the buildings of this early period, as some of them were destroyed in the Nika riots and renovated immediately thereafter by Justinian.The main Constantine complex was added to and extended over time, which led to the Great Palace acquiring the shape and character of a city within a city. The imperial villas to the south of the Hippodrome, such as the so-called Palace of Marina, named after the unmarried daughter of Emperor Arcadius, and the Palace of Hormisdas, Justinian’s mansion, were eventually incorporated into the palace. The historian Procopius relates how Justinian I built the portico of the Chalke (bronze) Gate and adorned it with mosaics depicting him and his wife Theodora triumphing over the kings of the Vandals and Goths, as well as scenes from his victorious wars and bucolic and hunting scenes.

Between the portico and the old buildings of Constantine the Great there were galleries and the triclinium, the great hall where official imperial banquets were held. At the end of the 6th century Justin II built the Chrysotriklinos, an octagonal hall, which became the throne room where imperial ceremonies took place. Emperor Tiberius rebuilt the north part of the palace and converted it into apartments for himself and his family.

The palace was expanded in the reign of Emperor Theophilus, when the Trikonchos, a two-storey building and several pavilions were erected. To the south of the Chrysotriklinos Basil I built the "Kainourion" (New) Palace, the five-domed Pentakoubouklon and many chapels and churches, the most famous being Nea Ekklesia (New Church), dedicated to Christ, the archangel Gabriel, Elijah the prophet, the Virgin Mary and St Nicholas. Nicephorus Phocas limited the extensive complex of palaces to the Boukoleon Palace, which he surrounded with walls in 969, leaving out the old, rarely used Daphne complex. It was then that this part of the ensemble became known as the Sacred Palace.

The Great Palace housed imperial power and remained the seat of Byzantine rulers until the 12th century, when greater import was accorded to the Blachernai Palace near the north-east corner of the city walls, by the Golden Horn. The palace sustained extensive damage and was looted when Constantinople fell to the Crusaders in 1204. However, its buildings retained their prestige and importance in imperial ritual until 1453. With the palace complex as its hub, Constantinople brought together all the political, religious and intellectual life in the empire.


Glossary (1)

tridinium or triklinos: reception or banquet area.


Information Texts (5)

The city: Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, on the triangular peninsula formed by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This was an excellent location that controlled trade routes linking the Aegean to the Black Sea. Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD as a city to rival Rome in splendour, wealth and power. The city grew fast, leading to problems of space and facilities, so Theodosius I extended it to the west by building new strong walls that protected Constantinople until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was laid out after Rome. A main road, the Mese Odos, linked the palace to the Golden Gate. On this road was the Forum, a circular plaza with a statue of Constantine mounted on a column, surrounded by public buildings. Theodosius I and Arcadius later built more forums decorated with their own statues. Following the Nika riots in the 6th century, Justinian adorned Constantinople with magnificent edifices, palaces, baths and public buildings. This time also saw the construction of Agia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the church which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. During the 7th and 8th centuries Constantinople faced major problems that threw it into disarray: attacks by the Avars (a siege in 674) and Arabs (attacks in 674 and 717-718); natural disasters (a powerful, destructive earthquake in 740); and epidemics (plague in 747). Limited building activity resumed in the 8th and 9th century, mainly concentrated on strengthening the city's fortifications. With the recovery of the Byzantine Empire from the 9th to the 11th century, Constantinople became the most populated city in Christendom; the majority of inhabitants were Greek-speaking, but many other ethnic groups lived alongside them, such as Jews, Armenians, Russians, Italians merchants, Arabs and mercenaries from Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many public, private and church-owned buildings were erected at the time, with an emphasis on establishing charitable institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Higher education flourished, thanks to the care of the state and the emergence of important scholars. This renaissance lasted until the mid-11th century, when economic problems due to poor management set in, compounded by the adverse outcome of imperial operations beyond the borders. The Crusaders left Constantinople entirely unscathed when first passing through, but in the Fourth Crusade of 1204 the Franks conquered and ransacked the city, slaughtering those inhabitants they did not take prisoner or drive out. In 1261 the city was retaken by Michael VIII Palaeologus, who rebuilt most of the monuments and the walls but proved unable to restore the city to its former splendour and glory. Enfeebled as it was, the empire was incapable of checking the advance of the Ottomans, and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell into their hands. The fall signalled the end of the empire. Nevertheless, the Byzantine intellectual tradition remained significant, as many scholars settled in the Venetian dominions of Crete and the Peloponnese, as well as in European countries, conveying Greek learning to the West.
The church of Agia Sophia: Agia Sophia, which now serves as a museum, lies on the north-eastern side of Sultan Αhmet Square, opposite the Blue Mosque. The present day church is the third built on the same site: the original Agia Sophia, founded by Constantine the Great, was destroyed by fire in 404, when riots broke out in Constantinople over the dethronement of Patriarch John Chrysostom; the church renovated by Emperor Theodosius II suffered irreparable damage in 532, also by fire during the Nika Revolt. Agia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) and Agia Irene (Holy Peace) were dedicated to attributes of God, and together served as the churches of the Patriarchate. However, only Agia Sophia went down in history as the "Great Church".Construction work began immediately after Emperor Justinian had suppressed the Nika revolt, and was assigned to engineers Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. The building was completed in five years and eleven months, and was inaugurated in December 537. Agia Sophia is considered one of the most splendid buildings of its time – even if this church was the only surviving Byzantine building, it would still be worth our while to study and admire Byzantine culture. In his work On Buildings, the historian Procopius describes the splendour and magnificence of the church, which stunned the faithful on account of its size and beauty, and the variety and richness of its decoration. The book also gives an account of the construction process and recounts the technical problems faced by the architects in erecting such a large building. As he writes, these were corrected thanks to the genius of Justinian, who gave the architects wise advice. Agia Sophia had to be larger, more majestic and more sumptuously decorated than the church of Agios Polyeuctus founded a few years earlier by the affluent Anicia Juliana, who hoped to put her son Olybrius on the throne.Agia Sophia is a combination of a domed basilica and a centrally planned building. Its construction was revolutionary and innovative for its time: the ground plan of the church forms a rectangle 77 by 71 metres, ending in and apse to the east and in a narthex and an exonarthex to the west. Inside, four large pillars stand in the corners of the nave, forming a 31 metre sided square. The pillars are connected to four arches, of which the north and south are very shallow, while the east and west end in four large conches to the east and west of the central square. The dome rests on forty ribs flanking forty windows in the lower section, pouring light into the central nave. The side aisles have galleries, of which the south was used by the emperor, his family, his senior officials and palace courtiers to attend the liturgy. Access to the nave is gained via five doors in the narthex, the middle one being known as the Royal Door.The church is famous not only for its architecture, but also for the mystical atmosphere created by light as it bounces off the precious materials glittering in the interior. The windows around the dome diffuse light and lend an impression of weightlessness and evanescence, creating the illusion that the vaults are floating and the dome is hanging from the sky. On the inside, the opulence and luxury of the materials used is awe-inspiring. According to Procopius, columns, marble, works of art and precious materials were brought from all the provinces of the empire to realize Justinian’s vision. The walls and pillars of the nave are dressed with green and dark blue-grey marble revetments, arranged so that the veins form symmetrical designs, while the columns in the niches on either side of the sanctuary apse and the entrance are of expensive, purple granite (porphyry). The architectural sculptures in the church - capitals, cornices and door frames - have delicate relief decoration, often attributed to the use of a small drill, so as to create embossed designs resembling lace around the main architectural members.All that remains of the exquisite mosaics in the church are a few fragments. Parts of the Justinian decoration are preserved in the intrados of the arcades in the central nave, the side aisle and the gallery vaults, and around the edge of the apse. The decoration is non-figurative (it does not include human figures), consisting of floral motifs and geometric shapes arranged on a gold background. The surviving representations were created after the end of Iconoclasm in 843, and were preserved because they were plastered over for as long as the church functioned as a mosque. The semi-dome in the sanctuary apse has a depiction of an enthroned Virgin and Child flanked by archangels; six-winged seraphim have survived on the dome pedentives. Prelates and prophets appear high up on the nave walls, between the windows. On the tympanum above the door in the corridor leading from the palace to the narthex, an enthroned Virgin and Child are shown flanked by Constantine the Great offering an effigy of Constantinople, and Justinian offering an effigy of Agia Sophia, so as to remind later emperors who founded the city ​​and the church. The semicircular tympanum above the central (Royal) door in the narthex bears a depiction of an emperor doing penance before the enthroned Christ, flanked by the Virgin Mary and an archangel in medallions. The emperor is probably Leo VI; he is shown in this position as a sign of penitence for his fourth marriage, which was illegal under canon law. In the north gallery there is a mosaic depiction of Leo’s VI brother, Alexander, clothed in imperial robes, which was probably painted during his short reign in 912-913. The east wall of the south gallery has two mosaic votive representations of Emperors Constantine Monomachus and Zoë, dating to around the year of Constantine’s ascension in 1044, and of John Comnenus and Irene, from around 1118. The south gallery also has an enormous representation of the Supplication, where Christ is flanked by the figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist interceding for the salvation of men. This may have been sponsored by Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus himself, following the recovery of Constantinople in 1261. The monument has undergone several repairs and alterations down the centuries. The original dome collapsed in an earthquake in 558 and was rebuilt 6 metres higher by Isidore the Younger. The enormous weight was probably not sufficiently supported, causing the base of the dome to deform, the pillars and buttresses to bend backwards and the east and west arch to widen. In 989 the Armenian architect Trdat was called to Constantinople to carry out restoration work on the west arch and parts of the dome, which had collapsed after an earthquake. The east part of the dome collapsed once again in 1346. In the 16th century additional repairs were carried out, and the four minarets still seen today were added to the corners of the building. Swiss architects Gaspar and Giuseppe Fossati oversaw another major repair project between 1847 and 1849. The church was the seat of the Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. Following the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204 it became a Catholic archbishop’s cathedral, and after 1453 was converted into a mosque. It remained a place of worship from then until 1935, when it was declared a museum.
Justinian I: Byzantine Emperor (527-565), nephew and successor of Justin I. One of his first acts was to reform the tax system and recode Theodosius’ laws. He was personally involved in religious conflicts and convened the 5th Ecumenical Council (553). Justinian considered himself primarily an orthodox emperor and took harsh measures against the remaining pagans. Many of his political and fiscal actions provoked strong reactions on the part of the senate and the factions and led to the Nika Riots. Justinian instigated numerous building projects, erecting approximately 30 churches in Constantinople, including the famous church of Agia Sophia. Regarding foreign policy, he successfully confronted the Persians and the Vandals in the East and focused on the recovery of the West. This he temporarily achieved, but at such cost that the Empire was left exhausted; the barbarians in the Balkans plundered the Greek peninsula as far as the Isthmus and barbarian tribes settled at the borders. His military operations exhausted Byzantium financially and militarily and had no real effect, as Italy and other areas he conquered were soon lost again. After his death, the weakened empire had to face new attacks, culminating in the Arab conquests, which negated the majority of Justinian’s conquests beyond the borders.
Procopius: Prolific Byzantine historian. Born in Caesarea ​​Palestinae, he studied rhetoric, sophistry and law. He moved to Constantinople at an early age, where he practiced as an orator and lawyer. He soon entered the circle of General Belisarius as secretary and advisor, and followed him on many campaigns. Procopius survived the great plague of Constantinople (541-542), which he described in detail. His writings are considered the most important source for the Justinian period, although admittedly he is not impartial towards the emperor; from a certain point onwards he seems to be unfavourably biased against both Justinian and Theodora. From 549 onwards Procopius lived permanently in Constantinople, though no information has survived on the final years of his life.
Goths: German tribe that probably came from Scandinavia. Around the 1st century they migrated south along the Vistula River to settle in Scythia (modern Ukraine). In the 3rd century they were divided into the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths. Several Goth generals seem to have gained considerable influence in the Byzantine imperial court, to the discontent of the aristocracy and the people. Early in the 5th century a large-scale massacre of soldiers in Constantinople aimed to exclude the Goths from army ranks. This eventually cost the empire dearly, as it was deprived of particularly skilful military personnel.


Bibliography (6)

1. Kazhdan, A.P., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Washington D.C., 1991

2. Mango, Cyril, Byzantine architecture, Faber and Faber, London, 1979

3. Rodley, L., Εισαγωγή στην Βυζαντινή τέχνη και αρχιτεκτονική., Εκδόσεις Καρδαμίτσα, Athens, 2010

4. Mango, C., The Brazen House. A Study of the Vestibule of the Imperial Palace of Constantinople., Kobenhavn, 1959

5. Mango, C., The palace of the Boukoleon, 1997

6. Demangel, R., Mamboury, E., Le Quartier des Manganes et la premiere region de Constantinople, Paris, 1939


Comments (0)