Constantine the Great planned the palace in 330, when he refounded Byzantium as Constantinople, and Justinian I rebuilt it lavishly after the Nika riots of 532. Scholars consider it a series of pavilions, similar to the later Topkapı Palace, on six terraces stepping down about 108 feet (33 m) from the Hippodrome to the shore.
Its parts included the Chalke Gate, the Palace of Daphne, the Chrysotriklinos throne room and the Nea Ekklesia with five gilded domes. The article gives the area as both over 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²) and 16 hectares, which cannot describe the same measure.
The Fourth Crusade plundered it, the Palaiologos emperors largely abandoned it, and Ottoman building demolished much of it. Only fragments survive, mostly beneath the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Mosaics are in the Great Palace Mosaic Museum.
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