Hagia Irene

Hagia Irene is located in the outer courtyard of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, and its name means "Holy Peace", and it is considered the oldest church in the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine), as it was the second largest church in Istanbul after Hagia Sophia, and after the burning of the Hagia Irene Church that was built by Constantine, Justinian rebuilt it in the sixth century and Emperor Constantine V completed the work in the eighth century and it was decorated with a simple mosaic cross, and after its work as an arsenal for several centuries in the Ottoman era, the church became the first museum in Istanbul in the nineteenth century, and its importance lies in being the first place in which Turkish museums were born .