Hagia Eirene Church (Aya İrini Kilisesi), the First Church of Byzantine. Constantine built a church, Hagia Irene over the Roman temples in 330s, as well as a forum, palace and hippodrome in its name. The meaning of Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene in the dictionary is “Holy Peace”; but also a saint who lived in the same century.
The real name of the saint is Penelope. It tries to spread Christianity. It is thrown into a well filled with snakes by the pagans; die. He is stoned, tied to horses and dragged; it still doesn’t die. At the end of miracles, pagans become Christians; Irini is also a saint. Emperor Constantine calls the first temple of monotheistic religion built on this extraordinary event, Hagia Irene.
Hagia Irene is the only church with atrium from Byzantium to the present day. The atrium is a courtyard with a portico in the middle of the ancient Roman temples. Hagia Irene has brought the features of the temple it replaced to this day. However, today’s Hagia Irene is not the same Hagia Irene. Because the wood was the first Aya Irini burnt in 532.
When the Emperor Lustinianos strictly forbade the polytheistic belief, the people who rebelled burned both Hagia Sophia and the Church of Hagia Irene by taking refuge in Zeus. Iustinianos rebuilt Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene. However, Hagia Irene was burnt once again in 564. After two fires, this time it was shaken by earthquakes. So the church was repaired three times.
Ottoman sultan II. Mehmet enters Istanbul and starts a new era. The outer walls of Topkapı Palace, the construction of which started, pass between Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene. After a while, Hagia Irene becomes the inner ammunition where the weapons are maintained and repaired.
Hagia Eirene Church (Aya İrini Kilisesi) is the first museum of the Ottoman Empire. When the weapons in the warehouse are antiquated, the first museum opens in Hagia Irene in the 19th century. Double winged staircases leading to the galleries of Hagia Irene are built at that time. The Ottoman adds the 1726 inscription and the staircase to the Hagia Irene at the main door. During the old earthquakes that shook Aya İrini, the icons were left unadorned during the repairs, since icons in Byzantium were banned religiously.
Today, a motif remained, except for the cross, which symbolized Jesus in the half-dome of the apse, which the Ottoman hanged by hanging a flag, and a few-step rostrum drawing symbolizing the Golgota Hill where Jesus was crucified. Since the church was not converted into a mosque after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453, no significant changes were made in the building. It was used as a loot and weapon store for a long time.
Damat Ahmet Fethi Pasha, one of the ophane guests, was exhibited here in 1846, forming the first core of the Turkish museum. In 1869, Hagia Irene was renamed Museum-i Humayun (Imperial Museum). Over time, the works here were moved to the Tiled Pavilion in 1875 due to the insufficient exhibition spaces. Hagia Irene has been used as a Military Museum since 1908. Later, the building, which was empty for a while, was repaired and turned into a unit under the Directorate of the Hagia Sophia Museum.
