Today's Great Palace: Presence of an Absence

While there has been mostly a physical absence of the Great Palace following its replacement with the Sultanahmed Mosque during the Ottoman Era, there has actually been a slight shift toward its contemporary presence following the 20^th century excavations. Today, part of the Great Palace site consists of the Great Palace Mosaics Museum, which houses and exhibits many of the mosaics that were once part of the palace and were recently unearthed in archaeological digs (1). The mosaics that have been unearthed and are on display tell us about the society that once existed when the palace itself existed. The mosaics depict “open-air scenes, the life of herdsmen, the labor of peasants, and the prowess of huntsmen. Scenes of children playing with Wilde beast and grazing animals alternate with mythological motifs, animal fables, and fabulous creatures from exotic countries… On surviving parts of mosaic, we still count 90 different themes populated by some 150 human and animal figures.” (1)

The museum represents a will to commemorate what has recently been unearthed from the excavation site and contributes greatly to the lieux de mémoire aspect of the site. While the museum showcases remnants of the palace and thus pieces that are “present,” the scarcity of the mosaics compared to the extravagance and sheer size of the palace emphasizes the parts of the palace that are still missing. Thus, the museum, together with the entire contemporary site of the Great Palace, including excavations and the current structures, underscore the absence of the once-illustrious palace. By highlighting the absence, the lieux de mémoire emphasizes the changes in attitude and presence of the palace throughout history and helps us as a society build our memory of what used to be, very much in the way that Nora describes a proper lieux de memoire in his work.