Great Palace Mosaics Museum

This guide to the Great Palace Mosaics Museum in Istanbul walks the floor of a sixth-century courtyard from Constantinople's imperial palace, laid down most likely under Justinian the First. It follows the hunting scenes and mythical creatures underfoot, and the palace's fate after Crusaders sacked the city in 1204, when the site was buried under centuries of bazaar life. Look closely at the quieter scenes too, a boy feeding his donkey, a shepherd milking a goat, tucked among all the ferocity.