Palaces, Aquaducts, Water cisterns
If the Byzantine palaces have not remained to the current day it is because they were not
protected as the religious buildings were. Although the palaces were very important
examples of Byzantine architecture, none of these buildings are standing today. The
excavation which began at the Sultanahmet Park and which extended all the way down to the
sea at Cankurtaran has only uncovered a courtyard with a mosaic floor.
Another
ruin of a Byzantine palace is the Blakhernai Palace which was referred to as the Tekfur
Palace by the Ottomans. Any remains that have been found in the Istanbul area are too
incomplete, however, to give us any clear and valuable information. The Bryas Palace ruins
in Bostanci do have the largest vaults available to us, and the upper ruins of the palace
do provide us with some clues relating to this style of architecture. Researchers who have
studied these remains agree that the architecture of the Byzantine palace resembles that
of the palace architecture of the Abbasids and the Emevi.
One
of the most important types of Byzantine architecture to survive to this day are the
aqueducts and water cisterns. The Valens Aqueduct, called the Bozdogan Kemeri in the
Ottoman period, is a valuable piece of architecture which is still intact today. This
aqueduct extended from Fatih to Suleymaniye and gathered water from various sources along
its route from Thrace to Istanbul. One of the most important still surviving cisterns is
the Yerebatan Saray (underground palace, the Basilica Cistern built by Emperor Justinian.
This cistern covers an area of approximately ten thousand square meters. There are 336
marble columns inside this cistern.
Even
if the art of sculpture was not as important to the Byzantines as it was to the Romans, it
still played a very significant role in the artistic life of the Byzantines. There are
numerous statues and busts of Byzantine emperors and other government officials on exhibit
at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum and at other museums in the world. The base upon
which the obelisk at Sultanahmet Square rests is a relief of the Emperor Theodosius the
Great, and the relief also pictures leading members of the place,and individuals from the
military and the common people watching the ceremonies held at the Hippodrome. One of the
other unique characteristics of art in the Byzantine period was the advancement reached in
decorated handicrafts. Unfortunately, however, the wide and busts of Byzantine emperors
and majority of these artifacts were plundered by the Crusaders during their campaign in
Anatolia.
The
fired pottery, candle holders, and seals which were used in every-day life, plus the
ornaments of silver and gold have been admired both by researchers and by experts in these
fields. Numerous articles remaining from the Byzantine period are exhibited in many of the
museums Istanbul and there are many examples of hand-written documents of the Byzantine to
the found in the library of the Topkapi Museum.
