This build has been integrated with the rest of the 6th century Constantinopolitan buildings, and thus this particular map will not be updated any more.

This is a continuation of my efforts to recreate the landmarks of Justinian's Constantinople in the 6th century. The church is done at the same scale as my Hagia Sophia build, 1 metre is 6 blocks.

Hagia Irene or Holy Peace was the first church to be built in Constantinople and likely served as the cathedral in the capital until the erection of Hagia Sophia in 537. During the Nika revolt Hagia Irene like many other buildings burned down owing to its timber roof, and was consequently rebuilt by Justinian as a domed basilica. This structure had two barrel vaults to the east and west of the dome, tympana to the south and north, aisles, galleries and a narthex (exonarthex as well perhaps). Yet even during his lifetime Justinian saw another fire devastate the church, destroying the atrium and parts of the narthex in 564. So it was rebuilt once more. This however was by far not the end of calamities for this storied place of worship. Further down the line in the 8th century an earthquake wiped out the upper part of the church, collapsing the dome, the barrel vaults and the galleries. Under Constantine V, aptly named Kopronimos, Hagia Irene was rebuilt yet again, but this time its design was changed almost beyond recognition. Instead of a domed basilica so prominent among Justinianic designs it morphed into a first of the kind cross in square structure that today is an almost defining feature of Orthodox churches. The southern and northern walls were thickened, the west barrel vault was replaced by an ellipsoidal dome. Finally, upon their conquest of the Queen of Cities the Ottoman turks further modified both the appearance and purpose of the structure, transforming it into an armoury, adding a second peristyle in the atrium, blocking windows, and adding new rooms.

The period between 537-558 that I generally portray in these last builds is scarce in information or evidence on Hagia Irene. Prokopios mentions her in a passing remark and there aren't many more period sources about its plan, let alone the mosaic decoration. Neither does the present scholarship seem to have an abundance of interest in Hagia Irene in the 6th century, not compared to Hagia Sophia at the very least. Ćurčić (2010) is the only source I found that deals with the church's appearance in the 6th century and his plans were instrumental in the creation of this build. It is however somewhat riddled with ambiguities, in particular regarding the narthex and/or exonarthex, as well as the shapes of the interior piers. Other design choices were influenced by Hagia Sophia, of course, as well as reconstructions of St John in Ephesos and Holy Apostles. For the interior decoration I referred to Hagia Sophia's Justinianic mosaics for the aisles and galleries, as well as the narthex. The nave and apse mosaics on the other hand were heavily influenced by San Vitale in Ravenna, bringing in 'busier' ornamental designs while also adding icons of Theotokos for the apse and Christ Pantokrator for the dome. The latter is pure artistic license since it is highly unlikely that a similar mosaic would've been put up the in the 6th century. However after trying out a few mosaics copied from Ravenna I came to the conclusion that a Pantokrator mosaic looks a lot better and so here it is.

The atrium is probably the most obscure part of the church, as it was remodelled in 564 after being burnt down. Ćurčić indicates a potential plan for a Justinianic atrium, yet I presume it refers to its 564 iteration. One clue I found regarding the atrium design is precisely that it burned down so thoroughly, perhaps suggesting it had a timber roof and not masonry vaults. Other than that, I modelled the atrium on the atrium of Hagia Sophia.