The Great Palace, the palace of the Byzantine emperors, occupied much of the east side of Constantinople, a short distance from the Hippodrome and Agia Sophia. It was not so much a single building as a complex, consisting of large banqueting and reception halls, libraries, churches, barracks, arcades, baths, courtyards and gardens, and the so-called Purple Room, where the children of ruling emperors were born. The original royal residence was the Palace of Daphne, built by Constantine the Great when Constantinople was founded; very little is known about the buildings of this early period, as some of them were destroyed in the Nika riots and renovated immediately thereafter by Justinian .The main Constantine complex was added to and extended over time, which led to the Great Palace acquiring the shape and character of a city within a city. The imperial villas to the south of the Hippodrome, such as the so-called Palace of Marina, named after the unmarried daughter of Emperor Arcadius, and the Palace of Hormisdas, Justinian’s mansion, were eventually incorporated into the palace. The historian Procopius relates how Justinian I built the portico of the Chalke (bronze) Gate and adorned it with mosaics depicting him and his wife Theodora triumphing over the kings of the Vandals and Goths , as well as scenes from his victorious wars and bucolic and hunting scenes.

Between the portico and the old buildings of Constantine the Great there were galleries and the triclinium , the great hall where official imperial banquets were held. At the end of the 6th century Justin II built the Chrysotriklinos, an octagonal hall, which became the throne room where imperial ceremonies took place. Emperor Tiberius rebuilt the north part of the palace and converted it into apartments for himself and his family.

The palace was expanded in the reign of Emperor Theophilus, when the Trikonchos, a two-storey building and several pavilions were erected. To the south of the Chrysotriklinos Basil I built the "Kainourion" (New) Palace, the five-domed Pentakoubouklon and many chapels and churches, the most famous being Nea Ekklesia (New Church), dedicated to Christ, the archangel Gabriel, Elijah the prophet, the Virgin Mary and St Nicholas. Nicephorus Phocas limited the extensive complex of palaces to the Boukoleon Palace, which he surrounded with walls in 969, leaving out the old, rarely used Daphne complex. It was then that this part of the ensemble became known as the Sacred Palace.

The Great Palace housed imperial power and remained the seat of Byzantine rulers until the 12th century, when greater import was accorded to the Blachernai Palace near the north-east corner of the city walls, by the Golden Horn. The palace sustained extensive damage and was looted when Constantinople fell to the Crusaders in 1204. However, its buildings retained their prestige and importance in imperial ritual until 1453. With the palace complex as its hub, Constantinople brought together all the political, religious and intellectual life in the empire.