Hagia Irene

Hagia Irene is one of the oldest surviving churches in Istanbul, set inside the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace. Its origins reach back to the fourth century: Constantine the Great had a church here, and in 381 it hosted the Second Ecumenical Council. The present domed basilica is essentially the rebuilding ordered by Justinian I after the Nika riots of 532, which makes it a contemporary of the nearby Hagia Sophia. After the Ottoman conquest it was never converted into a mosque; instead it served for centuries as the sultans' arsenal and trophy hall. Today it is a museum and one of the city's finest concert venues, regularly used by the Istanbul Music Festival for its acoustics.