Arslan Hane, Istanbul

Arslan Hane (Turkish for Lion's shelter; also Arslanhane) was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church converted into a profane building by the Ottomans in Istanbul, Turkey. The Church was dedicated to Christ of the Chalke (Greek: Χριστός τῆς Χαλκῆς), after the image of the Savior ("Christ Chalkites") framed above the main entrance of the nearby Chalke Gate. This building, whose name stems possibly from its doors or tiles made with bronze (in Greek chálkeos), was the monumental vestibule of the Great Palace of Constantinople. The desecrated church, already heavily damaged by fire, was demolished in 1804.

The structure was located in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih, in the neighborhood of Sultanahmet, about 200 m south of the Hagia Sophia, not far from the Column of Justinian and to the left of the Chalke Gate of the Great Palace, both disappeared.

In the tenth century, Emperor Romanos Lekapenos erected near the Chalke a chapel dedicated to Christ Chalkites, the name of the image of Jesus that adorned the main entrance of the Chalke. This image - being one of the major religious symbols of the city - had great importance during the Iconoclastic period. The shrine was so small that it could contain no more than fifteen people. In 971, Emperor John I Tzimiskes enlarged the chapel, building a two-storey church to celebrate his victory against the Kievan Rus', and endowed it with a 50-member clergy. The new building, which was erected in part using material from the nearby Palace Baths "tou oikonomíou", which was already in ruins, was lavishly decorated. John I was buried in the church's crypt in 976. In 1183, Andronikos Komnenos was proclaimed Emperor here, in association with the young Emperor Alexios II Komnenos, who was put to death immediately afterward. According to a Russian pilgrim, the church was still in use in the second quarter of the fifteenth century.

...
Wikipedia