page_title: Byzantine architecture
section_title: Hagia Irene
hierarchical_section_title: Byzantine architecture / Important Byzantine monuments / Hagia Irene
caption_attribution_description: English: The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It is the first church built in Constantinople.
context_page_description: Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire.
  The Byzantine era is usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great moved the Roman capital to Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. However, there was initially no hard line between the Byzantine and Roman empires, and early Byzantine architecture is stylistically and structurally indistinguishable from earlier Roman architecture. This terminology was introduced by modern historians to designate the medieval Roman Empire as it evolved as a distinct artistic and cultural entity centered on the new capital of Constantinople rather than the city of Rome and its environs.
  Its architecture dramatically influenced the later medieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East, and became the primary progenitor of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse.
context_section_description: One of the less famous Byzantine churches is Hagia Irene. This church served as a model church for the more famous church, Hagia Sophia. Construction on the church began in the 4th century. This was the first church that was built in Constantinople, but due to its location, it was severely damaged by earthquakes and the Nika riots, and required repair several times. The Hagia Irene is defined by its large atrium, and is in fact the only surviving building of the Byzantine Empire to have such a feature.
caption: Exterior view of Hagia Irene.
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