The Great Palace of Constantinople

The Great Palace of Constantinople was the official residence of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of the city in 330 until the Fourth Crusade sacked the city in 1204. For almost nine centuries, the palace was the political, ceremonial, and administrative center of the Eastern Roman Empire, the place where emperors were crowned, foreign ambassadors were received, imperial councils debated, and the elaborate rituals of Byzantine court life were performed. Although almost nothing of the palace survives today, it was for most of its history the largest and most important royal residence in the Christian world.

The palace has been the subject of intense scholarly study, especially since the discovery in the twentieth century of important remains of the earlier Byzantine palace beneath the present-day Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The study of the Great Palace is, in practice, the study of one of the enduring elements of the tradition institutions of the Byzantine world, and it makes sense only against the background of the civilization of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Foundation of the Palace

The Constantinian Palace

The Great Palace was founded by Emperor Constantine I in the early fourth century, as part of his refounding of Byzantium as Constantinople. The original palace was built on the eastern end of the peninsula, between the Hagia Sophia and the Sea of Marmara, on a site that had been occupied by the imperial residences of the Severan dynasty. Constantine enlarged the palace considerably, and the complex became the official residence of the imperial family.

The original Constantinian palace was a vast complex of buildings, including the imperial residences, the audience halls, the barracks of the imperial guard, the hippodrome of the palace, and a number of churches and chapels. The palace was connected to the Hippodrome by a private passage, the kathisma, which allowed the emperor to attend the chariot races without mixing with the public. The palace was also connected to the Hagia Sophia, when the great church was built in the sixth century, by a spiral ramp and a series of passages that allowed the emperor to move between the two buildings without being seen by the public.

The Expansion under Later Emperors

The Great Palace was expanded and renovated by almost every emperor who ruled from Constantinople, and the complex grew over the centuries into a vast and irregular conglomeration of buildings, courtyards, gardens, and churches. The most important expansions were carried out by Justinian I in the sixth century, by the Macedonian emperors in the ninth and tenth centuries, and by the Komnenian emperors in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The expansion of the palace was not always planned, and the complex grew in an irregular manner over the centuries. The result was that the Great Palace was a maze of buildings, courts, and passages, with no clear overall plan. Visitors to the palace were often bewildered by its complexity, and the palace was famous for the difficulty of finding one’s way around. The palace was, however, a magnificent complex, decorated with mosaics, frescoes, and marble revetment, and it was the symbol of the imperial power of the Byzantine state.

The Major Buildings

The Chrysotriklinos

The most important building of the Great Palace was the Chrysotriklinos, the golden reception hall, which was built by the emperor Justinian I in the sixth century. The Chrysotriklinos was a throne room of extraordinary magnificence, with a dome supported by eight arches, a floor of marble, and walls and ceiling covered with gold mosaics. The throne was placed on a raised platform, and the emperor was surrounded by the great officers of state. The Chrysotriklinos was the setting for the most important imperial ceremonies, including the coronation of the emperor, the reception of foreign ambassadors, and the celebration of the major feasts of the Byzantine year.

The Chrysotriklinos was rebuilt in the tenth century by the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, who recorded the ceremonies of the palace in his famous De Ceremoniis. The rebuilt Chrysotriklinos was even more magnificent than the original, with a dome supported by six arches, a floor of marble, and walls and ceiling covered with gold mosaics. The Chrysotriklinos was the symbol of the imperial power of the Byzantine state, and it was one of the most important buildings of the medieval world.

The Throne Room and the Magnaura

The Great Palace contained a number of other important buildings, including the Magnaura, the great hall where the emperor received foreign ambassadors and held audiences. The Magnaura was famous for its mechanical throne, which was raised into the air by mechanical devices when the emperor appeared, and which was surrounded by golden lions that roared by means of hidden mechanisms. The mechanical throne was one of the wonders of the medieval world, and it was the subject of many descriptions by foreign visitors.

The Magnaura was also the site of the university of Constantinople, the most important institution of higher learning in the Byzantine world. The university was founded in the fifth century, and it was reorganized in the eleventh century by the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, who endowed it with a new building and a new curriculum. The university was the principal training ground for the civil servants, the lawyers, the doctors, and the theologians of the Byzantine Empire.

The Churches and Chapels

The Great Palace contained a number of churches and chapels, including the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos, the Church of the Holy Apostles, and the Church of Saint Stephen. The churches were decorated with magnificent mosaics and frescoes, and they were the setting for the religious ceremonies of the imperial family. The most famous of the palace churches was the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos, which was the private chapel of the emperor, and which contained some of the most important relics of the Byzantine world, including the relic of the True Cross and the mandylion, the image of the face of Christ.

The churches of the palace were also the setting for some of the most important events of Byzantine history, including the coronation of the emperors, the blessing of the armies before their departure for battle, and the celebration of the great feasts of the Byzantine liturgical year. The churches were the most sacred spaces of the palace, and they were a powerful expression of the religious character of the Byzantine imperial office.

The Court Ceremonies

The De Ceremoniis

The court ceremonies of the Great Palace were codified in the De Ceremoniis, the great treatise on the procedures of the imperial court compiled by the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos in the tenth century. The De Ceremoniis is one of the most important sources for the study of Byzantine court life, and it provides a detailed account of the procedures of the palace, including the order of the courtiers, the order of the ceremonies, the clothing of the officials, and the food served at the imperial banquets.

The De Ceremoniis reveals the extraordinary complexity of Byzantine court life, with hundreds of officials, each with a specific role and a specific costume, each participating in the elaborate ceremonies of the palace. The ceremonies were designed to express the majesty of the imperial office, and they were a powerful expression of the Byzantine political theology, which held that the emperor was the representative of Christ on earth, the equal of the apostles, and the source of all authority in the Christian Roman state.

The Coronation

The most important of the court ceremonies was the coronation of the emperor, which was held in the Chrysotriklinos or in the Church of the Holy Apostles. The coronation ceremony was a complex ritual that included the blessing of the emperor by the patriarch, the crowning of the emperor with the imperial crown, and the acclamation of the emperor by the courtiers and the people. The coronation ceremony was the most sacred of the imperial ceremonies, and it was the foundation of the legitimacy of the emperor’s rule.

The coronation ceremony was a powerful expression of the Byzantine political theology, and it was the model for the coronation ceremonies of the medieval European monarchies. The coronation ceremony of the Byzantine emperor was the basis of the coronation ceremony of the Holy Roman Emperor, the coronation ceremony of the Tsar of Russia, and the coronation ceremonies of many other European monarchs.

The Decline of the Palace

The Fourth Crusade

The Great Palace was severely damaged in 1204, when the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The Crusaders looted the palace of its treasures, including the famous four bronze horses of the Hippodrome, which were taken to Venice and placed on the façade of St. Mark’s Basilica. The palace was also severely damaged by fire, and many of the buildings were destroyed. The Latin emperors who ruled from Constantinople after 1204 used the palace, but they did not repair the damage, and the complex gradually fell into disrepair.

The Palaiologan Period

When the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the Great Palace was in ruins, and the Palaiologan emperors were forced to use the smaller palace of the Bucoleon, on the southern coast of the city, as their principal residence. The Bucoleon palace had been a secondary residence of the Macedonian and Komnenian emperors, and it was not large enough to serve as the principal imperial residence. The Palaiologan emperors attempted to repair the Great Palace, but they did not have the resources to restore the complex to its former glory.

The Great Palace was finally abandoned in the fifteenth century, when the Palaiologan emperors moved to the palace of the Porphyrogenitus, in the Blachernae district of the city. The Blachernae palace, which was located in the northwestern corner of the city, was the setting for the final defense of Constantinople in 1453, and it was the place where the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, fell defending the walls of the city.

The Survival of the Memory

The Modern Site

The site of the Great Palace is now occupied by the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Most of the site is covered by modern buildings, but some remains of the palace have been excavated in the twentieth century, including the mosaics of the Great Palace, which were discovered in the 1920s and 1930s in the course of excavations near the Magnaura. The mosaics, which date from the sixth to the ninth century, are now displayed in the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, which is located near the site of the excavations.

The mosaics of the Great Palace are among the most important surviving examples of Byzantine secular art, and they are a major witness to the artistic achievement of the Byzantine court. The mosaics depict scenes from daily life, including children at play, hunters, and animals, and they are rendered in a naturalistic style that is distinct from the more formal style of the religious mosaics of the Byzantine churches. The mosaics are a unique witness to the world of the Byzantine court, and they are an essential part of the cultural heritage of Istanbul.

The Legacy of the Palace

The Great Palace of Constantinople was the political and ceremonial center of the Byzantine world for almost nine centuries, and it was the model for the imperial palaces of the medieval European monarchies. The tradition of the Byzantine court, codified in the De Ceremoniis, was transmitted to the West through the medium of the Crusades, the Italian trade with Byzantium, and the migration of Byzantine scholars to the West. The tradition of the Byzantine court was the basis of the court ceremonial of the Holy Roman Empire, the court ceremonial of the Russian tsars, and the court ceremonial of many other European monarchies.

The study of the Great Palace is, in practice, the study of one of the enduring elements of the tradition institutions of the Byzantine world, and it makes sense only against the background of the civilization of the Eastern Roman Empire. The palace has been the subject of intense scholarly study, and it still shapes the cultural heritage of the Byzantine world.

Conclusion

The Great Palace is the largest single building in the history of the Byzantine empire, and the smallest surviving physical trace of it. What remains of the building lies under modern Istanbul, and the only substantial fragment in view is the floor mosaics now in the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. If you visit the museum — it is small, and the entrance is easy to miss, on Sultanahmet between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque — you are looking at a fragment of the most important imperial residence in medieval Europe.