Bukoleon Palace
The Bukoleon Palace ( Greek Βουκολέων ) was one of the Byzantine palaces in Constantinople . It was probably built by Theodosius II in the 5th century.
The palace is located on the banks of the Marmara Sea . He was probably given the name Bukoleon after the end of the 6th century under Justinian I , when the small port was built in front of the palace, which is now filled with earth. Statues of bulls and lions stood there and gave the port and palace their names ( βους bous and λέων leon are Greek for “bull” and “lion”). The Bukoleon Palace was also called "Hormisdas Palace" and "Justinian's Palace".
Emperor Theophilos rebuilt and expanded the palace. He added a large representative facade to the sea wall . The ruins reveal the remains of a balcony that looked towards the sea, three entrances decorated with marble are still there today.
Archaeological and historical only the building activity of the emperor Nikephoros Phokas could be proven so far . Nikephoros set up his residence in the Bukoleon Palace around 967. A garden was created in an inner courtyard on the upper floor of the palace. On the side of the palace, the garden was closed by an arcade, the other walls were windowless so that nothing could disturb the emperor's tranquility in his hanging garden. In the center of the garden was a porphyrphial .
Over the centuries, the Bukoleon Palace was expanded and expanded by various emperors residing there and incorporated into the palace district around the Grand Palace .
In 1204 at the siege of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade , the Bukoleon Palace was taken by Boniface I , Count of Montferrat , who:
“[…] Rode along the bank to the Bukoleon Palace, and when he got there, all who were there surrendered to him, on condition that they were left alive. In the Bukoleon there were a large number of high ladies who had fled to the palace, there were Agnes , the sister of the King of France , who had been Empress, and Maria, the sister of the King of Hungary , who had also been Empress, and very many other ladies. I cannot speak of the treasures that were found in the palace because there were so many, there are no words to describe them and no one could count them in any way. "
Among the prisoners was Princess Margaret, daughter of Béla III. who married Boniface. During the Latin Empire , the Bukoleon Palace was the imperial residence. After the reconquest of the city by Michael VIII. Palaiologos , the palace, like the entire Grand Palace complex, was given up in favor of the Blachernen Palace . When the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, the palace was just a ruin. The remains of the palace were further destroyed in 1873 to make way for a railway line. Later, several major fires and other construction activities almost completely destroyed the palace.
Web links
- Rose Baillie: Rescue Archeology on Istanbul ( Memento of October 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- John B. Bury: History of Later Roman Empire (English)
- 360 ° panorama of Columbia University New York
- Byzantium 1200 - 3D reconstruction of the Bukoleon Palace ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Tourist information (English)
Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 9 ″ N , 28 ° 58 ′ 32 ″ E