My local newspaper, Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, reports today on archaeological work going on in Istanbul where portions of the Palace of the Roman and Byzantine emperors are being re-discovered. Work has been going on since 1997.

Later emperors added on to Constantine’s already monumental palace, turning it into a huge complex of palaces on six levels that stretched 10 hectares from the Basilica of Hagia Sophia to the Sea of Marmara. The Palace lies 7 to 8 metres beneath today’s street level.

Unearthed are : the Chaldkè - the monumental gate that was the sole passage from the Palace to the outside world - thermae, mosaics from the 5^th century, frescoes from the 7^th to the 9^th centuries, parts of a church, 60 skeletons.

The Italian scholar Eugenia Bolognesi has been researching Istanbul’s underground passageways for 18 years. She can guide auhorised persons through tunnels that lead from Hagia Sophia to the Imperial Port. There is talk of opening the site to the public by the beginning of 2009.

L’article en français.