İstanbul Great Palaca Mosaics Museum

The Great Palace Mosaics Museum is located within the Arasta Bazaar in the Kulliye of the Blue Mosque. The museum, which was formed to include the partially intact mosaic floor in the northeastern part of the cloistered courtyard of the Great Palace of the Eastern Roman Period, is a unit of the Hagia Sophia Museum.

The mosaics exhibited in the Museum of Great Palace Mosaics, which are dated between 450 and 550 A.D, are magnificent both in terms of art and in terms of the richness of the depicted scenes. Only 180 m² of the mosaic area, which was probably prepared by many master artists under the presidency of the leading masters of that era, was unearthed. Mosaic stones average 5 mm in size and consist of limestone, terracotta, and colored stones. The depictions are in the style of "Opus Vermiculatun" and are placed between pieces of marble. On the white marble parts in the background, the "Fish scale" technique was applied. In addition, the depictions that make up the mosaic are surrounded by contours.

Religious subjects are not found in mosaics. Topics are taken from everyday life, nature, and mythology. Among these, there are scenes depicting the fight of a lizard-eating griffin, an elephant and a lion, a mare suckling her foal, children herding goose, a man milking a goat, a boy feeding his donkey, a young girl carrying a jug, bears eating apples, and a hunting tiger.

The Great Palace Mosaics Museum was attached to the Istanbul Archeology Museums in 1953. Since 1979, it has been a unit of the Hagia Sophia Museum Directorate.