Grand Palace Mosaics Museum - IstanbulGrand Palace Mosaics Museum is located in the south of Sultanahmet Mosque, within the complex of buildings of the mosque. The museum was built in a way to accommodate the mosaics which is partially intact in the northeastern part of the courtyard of the Grand Palace.
While Grand Palace Mosaics, dating back to 450-550 A.D. were masterfully woven, no religious themes can be seen in the mosaics. The themes are from daily life and nature, and there are scented depicting gryphon eating a lizard, fight of an elephant and a lion, breeding of a mare, children feeding geese, man milking a goat, child feeding his donkey, young girl carrying a jug, bears eating apples and fight between a hunter and a tiger.
Grand Palace Mosaics Museum was opened in 1953 as part of the Istanbul Archeological Museums and became a part of St. Sophia Museum in 1979. A restoration of the mosaics started with a project prepared in the framework of a protocol agreement made between Ministry of Culture General Directorate of Monuments and Museums and Austria Academy of Sciences in 1982. These restorational works was completed in 1997.
|
