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Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene (Ancient Greek: Ἁγία Εἰρήνη, Byzantine Greek pronunciation: [aˈʝia iˈrini], "Holy Peace", Turkish: Aya İrini), sometimes known also as Saint Irene, is an Greek Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the few churches in Istanbul that has not been converted into a mosque. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall.

The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It ranks as the first church built in Constantinople before Hagia Sophia. Roman emperor Constantine I commissioned the first Hagia Irene church in the 4th century. It served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia was completed in 537. during the Nika revolt in 532, Hagia Irene was burned down. Emperor Justinian I had the church rebuilt in 548. It was then damaged again by an earthquake on October 20th 740, about six months before the death of Leo III . The Emperor Constantine V ordered the restorations and had its interior decorated with mosaics and frescoes. The restorations from this time are largely show in its present form.

Reconstruction during the reign of Justinian I shows change in the architecture of the atrium and narthex, which fortunately stayed intact after the earthquake. Restoration after the earthquake created a stronger foundation for the church. Before being rebuilt, the foundation had significant structural problems. This restoration established a cross-domed plan on the gallery level while still being able to keep the original basilica plan at the ground level. The narthex can be found to the west, preceded by the atrium, and then the apse on the east side. Hagia Irene still holds its dome and has peaked roofs on the north, west, and south sides of the church. The dome itself is 15m wide and 35m high and has twenty windows. Hagia Irene has the typical form of a Roman basilica, consisting of a nave and two aisles, which are divided by three pairs of piers. This helps support the galleries above the narthex. Semicircular arches are also attached to the capitals which also helps give support to the galleries above.

Heavily damaged by an earthquake in the 8th century, it dates in its present form largely from the repairs made at that time. The Emperor Constantine V ordered the restorations and had its interior decorated with mosaics and frescoes. Hagia Irene is the only example of a Byzantine church in the city which retains its original atrium. A great cross in the half-dome above the main narthex, where the image of the Pantocrator or Theotokos was usually placed in Byzantine tradition, is a unique vestige of the Iconoclastic art; presumably it replaced earlier decoration. The church was enlarged during the 11th and 12th centuries.

The church measures 100 m × 32 m. It has the typical form of a Roman basilica, consisting of a nave and two aisles, divided by columns and pillars. It comprises a main space, a narthex, galleries and an atrium. The dome is 15m wide and 35m high and has twenty windows.

Art Inside The Church

In Byzantine tradition, there is a unique vestige of the Iconoclastic art within the church go Hagia Irene. The apse semidome and the bema arch are covered with mosaics. These mosaics can date back to about the 8th century, this was during the time of the earthquake which most of the upper parts of the church can date back to. There is also a mosaic of a cross, which is outlined in black with a gold background. The ends are flared along with having teardrop shapes at the end. This extends around the base of the semidome. On the bema arch there is an inscription of Psalm 64 verses 4-5 on the inner sider, and then on the outer side there is an inscription of Amos 6 verse 6. There is evidence of alterations on these inscriptions as well. The inscriptions detail a praise to church because it is the house of the lord. The verses, especially the Pslam, were used as inspiration for some of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia.

Hagia Irene also holds a synthronon. Synthronon's are rows of built benches that are arranged in a semicircle in the apse. During Divine Liturgy this is where the clergy would sit. This is the only one that has survived in the city coming from the Byzantine era. The synthronon in Hagia Irene has six tiers of seats. There are doors at both side that open up into an ambulatory beneath the forth tier of seats.

Arsenal

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II, the church was enclosed inside the walls of the Topkapi palace. The Janissaries used the church as an arsenal until 1826. It was also used as a warehouse for military equipment and repository for trophies of arms and military regalia taken by the Turks. During the reign of Sultan Ahmet III (1703–1730) it was converted into the National Military Museum in 1726.

In 1846, Marshal of the Imperial Arsenal, Ahmed Fethi Paşa, made the church into a military antiques museum. It was used as the Military Museum from 1908 until 1978 when it was then turned over to the Turkish Ministry of Culture.

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• Kazhdan (ed.), Alexander (1991). "Church of Saint s.v.Irene". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 2nd of 3 vols. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195046528. {{cite journal}}: |last= has generic name (help)
• Krautheimer, Richard (1984). Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-05294-7.
• Necipoğlu, Gülru (1991). Architecture, ceremonial, and power: The Topkapi Palace in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-14050-0.
• Millingen, Alexander Van, Ramsey Traquair, Walter S. George, and Arthur e. Henderson. Byzantine churches in Constantinople: their history and architecture. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1912. Print.
• Musilek, Josef, Lubos Podolka, and Monika Karkova, "The Unique Construction of the Church of Hagia Irene in Istanbul for The Teaching of Byzantine Architecture." Priced Engineering, 161 (2016): 1745-750. Web.
• Pyhrr, Stuart (1989). "European Armor from the Imperial Ottoman Arsenal". Metropolitan Museum Journal. 24: 85–116 – via JSTOR.

I will be adding details to the already existing page for Hagia Irene. These details will include the architecture and construction of the church, and the history of the church thought the years until present day. These are the the sources I will be using:

Pyhrr, Stuart. W. "European Armor from the Imperial Ottoman Arsenal." Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 24, 1989, pp. 85-116

Musilek, Josef, Lubos Podolka, and Monika Karkova, "The Unique Construction of the Church of Hagia Irene in Istanbul for The Teaching of Byzantine Architecture." Priced Engineering, 161 (2016): 1745-750. Web.

Millingen, Alexander Van, Ramsey Traquair, Walter S. George, and Arthur e. Henderson. Byzantine churches in Constantinople: their history and architecture. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1912. Print.

Freely, John, and A.S. Cakmak. Byzantine monuments of Istanbul. Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2010. Print.

Bogdanovic Jelena, "Hagia Eirene", 2008, Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Constantinople

"Church of Hagia Eirene" The Byzantine Legacy. Web.