xes, on the south a parecclesion, and on the north a gallery in
two stories.

[Illustration: FIG. 99.]

As the central part of the church is the oldest and of the greatest
interest, the description will begin with the interior, and deal
afterwards with the later exterior accretions.

Only two doors lead from the inner narthex to the church, one of them in
the centre of the axis and the other to the north. The absence of the
corresponding and customary third door, for which there is space on the
south side, should be noticed, as it throws light on the original plan
of the building. The doors are beautifully treated with marble
mouldings and panelled ingoes; the door to the north recalls the
sculptured door in the south gallery of S. Sophia, but, unfortunately,
the carved work of the panels has been destroyed. Above the central
door, on the interior, is a porphyry cornice carved with peacocks
drinking at fountains (Plate LXXXVII.). Large portions of the beautiful
marble revetment on the walls of the church happily remain intact, and
nowhere else in Constantinople, except in S. Sophia, can this splendid
method of colour decoration be studied to greater advantage. Slabs of
various marbles have been split and placed on the walls so as to form
patterns in the veining. The lower part is designed as a dado in
Proconessian striped marble, with upright posts of dark red at the
angles and at intervals on the longer stretches of wall, and rests on a
moulded marble base. Above the dado are two bands, red and green,
separated from the dado and from each other by white fillets. The upper
part is filled in with large panels, especially fine slabs of brown,
green, or purple having been selected to form the centre panels. The
plainer slabs of the side panels are framed in red or green borders, and
outlined with fillets of white marble either plain or carved with the
'bead and reel.' The arches have radiating voussoirs, and the arch
spandrils and the frieze under the cornice are inlaid with scroll and
geometrical designs in black, white, and coloured marbles. The cornice
is of grey marble with a 'cyma recta' section, and is carved with an
upright leaf.[537]

On the eastern walls of the north and south cross arms, and flanking the
apse, eikon frames similar to those in the Diaconissa (p. 186) are
inserted. The northern frame encloses a mosaic figure of Christ holding
in His hands an open book, on which are the words, 'Come unto Me al