The Great Palace Mosaic Museum

The Great Palace Mosaic Museum

The Great Palace Mosaics have been tessellated with a unique workmanship between the years 450-550 AD.

The Great Palace Mosaic Museum was first opened in the year 1953 dependant to the Istanbul Archeological Museum but then it was related to the Hagia Sophia Museum in the year 1979. It is situated inside the Arasta Bazaar in the Sultanahmet complex.

It has been erected over the remains of the Great Palace from the Byzantine Era. The building has been built in a way to cover the mosaic which was found during the excavations made in the courtyard of the Palace in the year 1935.

The mosaics displayed in the museum generally depict hunting scenes, scenes from daily life and ornamental designs.

In addition to that, many important visual arrangements such as Medusa head , various busts, children herding goose, young girl carrying a jug, mare suckling her colt, man milking the goat, child feeding his donkey, bears eating apples and hunter and the tiger are displayed there as well.

The mosaics have been tessellated in form of scales on white background. The museum is opened every day except Mondays from 09.30 until 16:30.