Which church in Constantinople housed the tombs of many Byzantine emperors?

The Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople housed the tombs of many Byzantine emperors. It functioned not only as a major Eastern Roman church but also as an imperial mausoleum, earning the name Imperial Polyandrion, or imperial cemetery.

Constantine the Great began the original church around the time Constantinople became the Roman Empire’s new capital. After his death in 337, his remains were buried there. Justinian I later sponsored a grand rebuilding, completed in 550, and added a mausoleum for himself and members of his family. For more than seven centuries, the church was one of the capital’s most important religious buildings after Hagia Sophia.

Its imperial burials included Constantine I, Constantius II, Theodosius I, Arcadius, Justinian I, Heraclius, and other rulers. The church was looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and its imperial tombs were reportedly opened for valuables. After the Ottoman conquest, the deteriorating church was demolished in the 15th century; the Fatih Mosque now occupies the site.