Great Palace Mosaics Museum: the Byzantine mosaics behind Arasta

Updated on October 8, 2026

Behind the Blue Mosque, along the Arasta Bazaar, the Great Palace Mosaics Museum (Büyük Saray Mozaik Müzesi) shelters a fragment of the floor of the colonnaded courtyard of the Byzantine emperors' Great Palace, a mosaic pavement dated to about 450-550 with hunting scenes, animals, children at play and country life. The palace, which once ran from the Hippodrome down to the Sea of Marmara, has vanished; these mosaics are one of its few remains still in place. Excavations in 1935-1938 uncovered them, and the museum was built on the site to protect them. **Please note: according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the museum has been closed for restoration since 9 April 2023, with no reopening date announced.** This page explains what it contains and what you can see in the meantime.

Highlights

The peristyle pavement

The surviving floor, a few hundred square metres, was the courtyard of a colonnade of the Great Palace. Tiny cubes of stone and glass (tesserae) form scenes with nothing religious about them: a secular decoration, rare in a city known mostly for its churches.

Scenes of country life

A shepherd milking a goat, children rolling a hoop, peasants and animals make up a repertoire of everyday life in late antiquity.

Animals and children

Children riding a dromedary, elephants and other animals fill the pavement.

Practical info

Tips

Check the museum's status before you go: while it is closed, the mosaics cannot be visited and no admission fee applies. Only the Arasta shopping street, free to enter, remains open. To see other Byzantine mosaics in Istanbul, head to the upper gallery of Hagia Sophia, Chora (Saint Saviour in Chora) or Pammakaristos. Our guide to Byzantine Istanbul offers a full route. Information checked in October 2026.

How to get there

Torbahane Sokak, Arasta Çarşısı, Sultanahmet, Fatih, Istanbul, behind the Blue Mosque. T1 tram, Sultanahmet stop, about 5 minutes on foot. From the square, go around the Blue Mosque to the south-east and follow the Arasta street.

Opening hours

Best: Closed for restoration

Closed for restoration since 9 April 2023 (no reopening date announced); check the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism before you come