Archaeological museums

Plan of the imperial palace of Emperor Constantine, nothing of it remains.

Old Byzantine manuscripts.

The goddess, Cybele.

Very few Byzantine buildings remain, the few that has survived are ever so precious and special.

 The Trojan horse, a model.

This is a very impressive museum showing some of the relics from the Hittite and Assyrian Empires. The other impressive museum with similar relics is the British museum. The surprising thing was while this was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, there were very little on display that gave any indication of that. What was displayed of the Byzantine Empire were photographs of the mosaics in Ravenna, Italy, some pictures of the church of S Savior in Chora (which we visited) pictures of a non existent palace of Emperor Constantine. I don't think modern Turkish people are appreciative of their Byzantine history. It isn't like Rome where the past and the present intermingles, one is always reminded of that glorious past. One has to be really imaginative in Istanbul.