Palace of the Porphyrogenitus

The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, known in Turkish as Tekfur Sarayi, is the only substantially preserved example of Byzantine palace architecture in Istanbul. It sits at the northwestern edge of the Theodosian land walls, integrated into their line between the districts of Edirnekapi and Ayvansaray. Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, probably as an annex of the vanished Blachernae Palace, it served as one of the last residences of the Palaiologos dynasty before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Its three-storey facade alternates bands of brick and pale stone, with tall arched windows on the top floor. After 1453 the building was used under Ottoman rule as a menagerie, brothel, pottery and glass workshop, heavily altering the interior. A long restoration reopened it as a museum in 2019, also displaying its later Iznik-style tile production. Today visitors can walk the halls and look from the roof along the line of the land walls. The palace lies within the UNESCO Historic Areas of Istanbul World Heritage site.