Though only a shell these days, the remnants of this Byzantine palace give a good idea of how it would have looked in its heyday. Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, the large three-storied structure was an annexe of the nearby imperial Palace of Blachernae, of which few traces exist today.
The building's later uses were not so regal: after the Conquest it functioned in turn as a menagerie for exotic wild animals, a brothel, a poorhouse for destitute Jews, a pottery and finally a car park.
The Museum Pass Ä°stanbul is not valid here.
