Hagia Irene Church Museum

Hagia Irene Church is the First Church of Byzantium. While re-establishing the city, Constantine, one of the Roman Emperors, had the Hagia Irene Church built on top of the Roman temples in the 330s, as well as a forum, palace and hippodrome in his name. The meaning of Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene in the dictionary is `Holy Peace`; but also a saint who lived in the same century. The real name of the saint is Penelope. He tries to spread Christianity. He is thrown into a well full of snakes by the pagans, but he does not die. Stoned, tied to horses and dragged; still does not die. At the end of miracles, the pagans become Christians; Irene is also a saint. Emperor Constantine named the first temple of the monotheistic religion Hagia Irene, which he had built upon this extraordinary event.

Hagia Irene is the only church with an atrium that has survived from Byzantium. The Atrium is a courtyard with a cloister in the middle of ancient Roman temples. Hagia Irene has carried the characteristics of the temple it replaced until today. However, today's Hagia Irene is not the same Hagia Irene. Because the first Hagia Irene of wood was burned in 532. When Emperor Justinian strictly forbade polytheistic belief, the people who rebelled took refuge in Zeus and burned both Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene Church... Justinian had Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene rebuilt. However, Hagia Irene was burned once again in 564. Repaired... After two fires, this time shaken by earthquakes. So the church was repaired three times. Ottoman sultan II. Mehmet enters Istanbul and starts a new era. The outer walls of Topkapi Palace, the construction of which has begun, pass between Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene. After a while, Hagia Irene becomes the inner arsenal where the maintenance and repair of the weapons are done.

Hagia Irene is the first museum of the Ottoman Empire. When the weapons in the warehouse became antiques, the first museum was opened in Hagia Eirene in the 19th century. At that time, the double-winged stairs that provide access to the galleries of Hagia Irene were built. The Ottoman Empire adds the 1726 inscription and the staircase on the main gate to Hagia Irene. During the ancient earthquakes that shook Hagia Irene, the walls were left undecorated during the repairs, as icons were forbidden by religion in Byzantium. Today, apart from the cross symbolizing Jesus in the semi-dome of the apse, which was closed by the Ottomans by hanging a flag, and a few-stepped lectern drawing symbolizing the Golgotha ​​Hill, where Jesus was crucified, only a motif remained. Since the church was not converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453, no significant changes were made in the building. It was used for a long time as a loot and weapon storage. Damat Ahmet Fethi Pasha, one of the Tophane museirs, was exhibited here in 1846, which formed the first core of the Turkish museum. In 1869, Hagia Irene was renamed as the Museum-i Hümayun (Imperial Museum). Over time, the works here were moved to the Tiled Kiosk in 1875 due to the insufficient number of exhibition spaces. Hagia Irene has been used as a Military Museum since 1908. Afterwards, the building, which was empty for a while, was repaired and turned into a unit under the Directorate of Hagia Sophia Museum.