Bukoleon Palace

Bukoleon Palace, one of the most striking architectures from the Byzantine Period, has a perfect location on the Marmara Sea coast of the Historical Peninsula. Situated in Çatladikapı locality, between Kumkapı and Cankurtaran, the palace is located in the eastern part of Hagia Sophia, one of the city's most touristic structures.

Construction of Bukoleon Palace dates back to the pre-Christian period according to sources. The parts of the palace which have survived until today and got built by Emperor Theodosios II between 408 and 450, were probably added during the period of Teofilos between 829 and 842. The history of the marble blocks used in the building extending between the edge of the imperial pier and the lighthouse tower called Faros dates back to the First Age. The magnificent palace, which immediately catches the glimpse with its 300-meter-long facade, had a structure consisting of two separate parts when it was first built.

The most fascinating detail of the palace is that the monumental staircase passes through the wall in the south and north direction that connects the Bukoleon Palace and the small port in front of it. The eastern part of the Bukoleon Palace, where the western part was destroyed to a great extent due to the railway construction in the 1870s, has survived until today. The Faros side, where the columns with rich ornaments add a completely different atmosphere, is definitely worth seeing. Some artifacts from the Bukoleon Palace are exhibited in the Istanbul Archeology Museum as of today. When Mehmed II. the Ottoman Sultan conquered Istanbul in 1453, the palace was still standing but in a wrack and ruin state, therefore it got destroyed in 1873.