name, for the most part ever since. For several years it contained the
first collection of antiquities made by the Turkish Government, and some
of the objects in that collection still remain to recall the use of the
building as a museum; the most interesting of them being the chain
stretched across the mouth of the Golden Horn during the siege of 1453,
the monument to the charioteer Porphyrios, and the pedestal of the
silver statue of the Empress Eudocia, which played a fatal part in the
relations of that empress to the great bishop of Constantinople, John
Chrysostom. Since the establishment of the constitutional regime in the
Ottoman Empire the building has been turned into a Museum of Arms.

_Architectural Features_

Until the recent establishment of constitutional government in Turkey it
was impossible to obtain permission to study this church in a
satisfactory manner, so jealously was even entrance into the building
guarded. The nearest approach to anything like a proper examination of
the building was when Salzenberg was allowed to visit the church in
1848, while the church of S. Sophia was undergoing repairs under the
superintendence of the Italian architect Fossati. But the liberty
accorded to Salzenberg was not complete, and, consequently, his plan of
the church published in his _Altchristliche Baudenkmaeler von
Konstantinopel_ is marred by serious mistakes. Happily the new
Government of the Empire is animated by an enlightened and liberal
spirit, and at the request of His Excellency Sir Gerard Lowther, H.B.M.
Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, permission was granted to the Byzantine
Research and Publication Fund to have the church examined as thoroughly
as its condition allowed, and to make all the plans, drawings, and
photographs required in the interests of a scientific knowledge of its
architectural character. The Byzantine Research and Publication Fund was
fortunate in having as its president, Edwin Freshfield, LL.D., so long
distinguished for his devotion to Byzantine archaeology, and it is
mainly due to his generosity that the means necessary for carrying on
the study of the church were provided. The society was, moreover, most
happy in being able to secure the services of an architect in Mr. W. S.
George, who already possessed considerable experience in the
investigation of Byzantine buildings at Salonica and elsewhere.
Fortunately, also, the building was at the same time placed under
repair, in view o