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 Great
Palace Mosaic Museum (Istanbul Mosaic Museum)
The Great Palace Mosaic Museum
(Turkish: Büyük Saray Mozaikleri Müzesi, Istanbul Mosaic Museum), is
located close to Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, Turkey, at Arasta
Bazaar. The Istanbul Mosaic Museum houses floor mosaics of the late
Roman and early Byzantine period, and wall ornaments of the Great
Palace of Constantinople(Istanbul).
History of the site
Floor mosaic of a child and
a donkey (c. 5th century)It is believed that the Great Palace of
Constantinople was constructed during the reign of Justinian I
(527-565). The Great Palace mosaic was the largest and the most
beautiful landscape in antiquity (6th century A.D). Nowhere in the
world of late antiquity can we find a building with a tessellated
pavement of similar size and perfection of workmanship. It was
probably made by an imperial workshop that must surely have employed
the best craftsmen gathered from all corners of the Byzantine
Empire, guided by a master artist. It is this circumstance which
makes it difficult to compare the piece with creations, and thus to
date it by means of typological and stylistic methods. Composing the
tessellated pavement, with its many coloured lime, terracotta and
glass cubes of 5 mm. One square metre of floor space consumed about
40.000 cubes, which makes for 80.000.000 tesserae for entire area.
The mosaic was brought to light only in fragment and sections, which
together make-up about one seventy the original expanse, but these
suffice to show that it is one of the most magnificent compositions
known to us from antique mosaic art.
 In
the Great Palace Mosaic, the main field of the composition was 6
metres in width. On either side of its edge it is accompanied by an
exquisitely arranged border of foliage each 1.50 metres wide,
sufficient to cover the entire hall depth of 9 metres with a
tessellated pavement. The frame is dominated by a highly
naturalistic acanthus scroll. Acanthus are filled with masked heads,
exotic fruit and animals. The frame symbolises the Garden of Eden.
After frame when looking at the scenes we find a movement from left
to right in the north-eastern hall. The pictures describe open-air
scenes, the life of herdsmen the labour of peasants and the prowess
of huntsmen. Scenes of children playing of wild beast and grazing
animals alternate with mythological motifs animal fables and
fabulous creatures from exotic countries, animals, hunting, games,
bucolic scenes nature and myths are the leading themes in the
succession of pictures. On surviving parts of the mosaic we still
count 90 different themes populated by some 150 human and animal
figures.
The palatial district extended
from Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome to the coast line, where the
sea wall acted as a mighty boundary of great military value. Its
basic layout, first determined by Emperor Constantine I, soon housed
a collection of state buildings with courtyards, throne rooms and
audience rooms, churches and chapels gardens and fountains,
libraries, assembly buildings, thermal baths and stadiums.
Throughout the centuries palaces decayed due to fires, earthquakes,
and other reasons. Finally, whatever remained was covered by earth.
 British scientists from the
University of St Andrews in Scotland made extensive excavations at
the Arasta Bazaar in Sultan Ahmet Square (1935-1938) and
(1951-1954), which partly opened up one of the south-western
buildings, so called "Great Palace." The Great Palace had a large
courtyard with perisyle (1872 m²) and was decorated with mosaics. It
was at this point that the Austrian Academy of Sciences undertook to
rescue, supervised by Prof. Dr. Werner Jobst, to study and preserve
the famous palace mosaic and to carry out additional archaeological
examinations (1983-1997) within the scope of a cooperative project
with the Directorate General of Monuments and Museums in Turkey.
See
also Anatolian Mosaic
Designs by Artist Özgür Çamkerten and Wikipedia
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