TEKFUR PALACE
Try to imagine the glorious city of Constantinople at the time of conquest in 1453. An imperial city for 1000 years, it must’ve been an impressive place adorned with palaces, government buildings, churches and monasteries. Unfortunately, considering its long history, not very much remains from that era. For example, Fatih Sultan Mehmed didn’t move into the Great Palace of Constantinople after the conquest, he built the Topkapi Palace. The biggest Byzantine imperial court completely disappeared and only some small fragments remain today. But luckily we can see the Tekfur Palace.
The Tekfur Palace or Palace of the Porphyrogenitus was built in the late 13th century. Porphyrogenitus means “born in purple”. They named this palace after Constantine Palaiologos. He was born when his father, Michel VIII Palaiologos, was already an emperor.
Because of its location, the Tekfur Palace was extensively damaged when the Ottoman army entered the city. During Ottoman times, it housed the Sultan’s menagerie and it also operated as a brothel.
It became a factory for production of ceramic tiles in 1719, similar to famous Iznik tiles. That workshop lasted for one century, afterwards the palace became a poorhouse for the Jews. Finally, they abandoned the Tekfur Palace in the early 20th century.
The Tekfur Palace that you can see in the main photo of this post has been completely reconstructed. Personally, I think that they’ve done an excellent job to preserve whatever remained of this precious Byzantine structure and recreate the image of the palace as it used to be throughout its long existence.
The palace is a museum now. It’s very close to the Chora Church so, if you intend to explore the Byzantine heritage in Istanbul, make sure to visit both the church and the palace at the same time.
THEODOSIAN WALLS
Emperor Theodosius II built Theodosian Walls in the 5th century. Many invading armies sieged Constantinople to no avail. It was Fatih Sultan Mehmed that finally managed to breach the walls and enter the city in 1453, which marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. In reality, it was only a matter of time for that to happen as, by then, the empire was just the city of Constantinople. The new Ottoman capital city was in Edirne and the Ottoman Empire already stretched well into the Balkans. In other words, Constantinople was completely encircled by the ever expanding Ottoman state.
Thus, every study of the Byzantine legacy wouldn’t be complete without exploring Theodosian Walls. They stretch for more than 5km in the western part of the city, from the Marble Tower on the Sea of Marmara to the Tekfur Palace.
I started my tour of the walls from the Yedikule Fortress that Fatih Sultan Mehmed built after the conquest. I walked all the way to the Romanos Gate but, to see the walls, you don’t have to do the same. It was a very long walk.
I did it because I wanted to see some of the gates that led into the city and also some of the Ottoman heritage located in that part of Istanbul.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered Belgrade in 1521. He named this gate the Belgrade Gate after this conquest.
The next main entrance into the city is the Silivri Gate. Behind the gate, you can see the impressive Hadim Ibrahim Pasha mosque.
Finally, I arrived to the Mevlana Gate.
TEKFUR THEODOSIUS MET FATIH SULTAN MEHMED
Tekfur in Turkish means “Byzantine lord”. Of course, this term arrived much later when Turks invaded Anatolia. Tekfur Theodosius built the walls that protected the glorious city of Constantinople for many centuries, until its capture by Fatih Sultan Mehmed and his Ottoman army.
It’s only when you see the size of the walls that you can fully understand why they were impenetrable for such a long time.
Back to Turkey