page_title: Nea Ekklesia
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Nea Ekklesia / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: The imperial district of Byzantine Constantinople, with the Great Palace and the approximate locations of its main buildings (based on literary descriptions), the Hippodrome, the Hagia Sophia and the surrounding structures. Surviving or excavated structures are in black, the conjectural outlines of structures in grey, and the shaded portion corresponds to the area occupied by the Sultanahmet Camii and other later structures.Ελληνικά: Χάρτης της περιοχής του Μεγάλου Παλατίου της Κωνσταντινούπολης. Απεικονίζονται ο Ιππόδρομος, η Αγία Σοφία και η Αγία Ειρήνη, καθώς και τα γειτονικά κτίρια. Η (σκιασμένη) περιοχή του Μεγάλου Παλατίου καλύπτεται σήμερα από το τζαμί Σουλτάν Αχμέτ (το Μπλε Τζαμί) και άλλα κτήρια. Ως εκ τούτου, η διάταξη των κτιρίων του ανακτορικού συμπλέγματος είναι υποθετική, βασιζόμενη σε λογοτεχνικές και ιστορικές αναφορές. Το περίγραμμα των γνωστών/σωζώμενων θεμελίων σημειώνεται με μαύρο, τα υποθετικά με γκρίζο.
context_page_description: The Nea Ekklēsia was a church built by Byzantine Emperor Basil I the Macedonian in Constantinople between 876 and 880. It was the first monumental church built in the Byzantine capital after the Hagia Sophia in the 6th century, and marks the beginning of the middle period of Byzantine architecture. It continued in use until the Palaiologan period. Used as a gunpowder magazine by the Ottomans, the building was destroyed in 1490 after being struck by lightning. In English usage, the church is usually referred to as "The Nea".
context_section_description: As noted, not much is known about the details of the structure. The church was built with five domes: the central dome was dedicated to Christ while the four smaller ones housed chapels of the four other saints to whom the church was dedicated. The exact arrangement of the domes and the type of the church are disputed. Most scholars consider it to have been a cross-in-square structure, similar to the later Myrelaion and Lips Monastery churches. Indeed, the widespread use of this type throughout the Orthodox world, from the Balkans to Russia, is commonly ascribed to the prestige of this imperial building.
  The church was the crowning achievement of Basil's building program, and he spared no expense to decorate it as lavishly as possible: other churches and structures in the capital, including the mausoleum of Justinian, were stripped, and the Imperial fleet employed with transporting marble for its construction, with the result that Syracuse, the main Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, was left unsupported and fell to the Arabs.
  Basil's grandson, the Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, gives the following description of the church's decoration in a laudatory ekphrasis:
  This church, like a bride adorned with pearls and gold, with gleaming silver, with a variety of many-hued marble, with compositions of mosaic tesserae, and clothing of silken stuffs, he [Basil] offered to Christ, the immortal Bridegroom.  Its roof, consisting of five domes, gleams with gold and is resplendent with beautiful images as with stars, while on the outside it is adorned with brass that resembles gold. The walls on either side are beautified with costly marbles of many hues, while the sanctuary is enriched with gold and silver, precious stones, and pearls. The barrier that separates the sanctuary from the nave, including the columns that pertain to it and the lintel that is above them; the seats that are within, and the steps that are in front of them, and the holy tables themselves – all of these are of silver suffused with gold, of precious stones and costly pearls.  As for the pavement, it appears to be covered in silken stuffs of Sidonian workmanship; to such an extent has it been adorned all over with marble slabs of different colors enclosed by tessellated bands of varied aspect, all accurately joined together and abounding in elegance.
  The atrium of the church lay before its western entrance, and was decorated with two fountains of marble and porphyry. Two porticoes ran along the northern and southern sides of the church up to the tzykanistērion, and on the seaward (southern) side, a treasury and a sacristy were built. To the east of the church complex lay a garden, known as mesokēpion ("middle garden").
caption: Map of the Great Palace district. The approximate location of the Nea Ekklēsia is marked on the southern end.
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