Located in the busy Laleli district, the Bodrum Mosque, originally the Byzantine Myrelaion Church, is a fascinating place into Constantinople's multi-layered past. Built around the 10th century by Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, the church served as the private chapel for his nearby palace. Its design is a masterclass in Middle Byzantine "cross-in-square" architecture, standing atop a massive, arched substructure. This foundation was originally a Roman "rotunda": a grand, circular building with a diameter of over 30 meters. To create a stable, elevated platform for his palace and chapel, the Emperor repurposed this ancient Roman ruin, ingeniously converting the circular interior into a sturdy cistern (water reservoir) that still exists beneath the structure today.The Myrelaion holds a special place in history because it was commissioned not just as a place of worship, but as a private family mausoleum. By choosing to bury his family here rather than at the traditional Church of the Holy Apostles, Romanos broke imperial tradition, setting a trend for later Byzantine rulers to establish private burial churches.In the 15th century, the abandoned church was transformed into a mosque by the vizier Mesih Pasha. The conversion was subtle. The original Byzantine layout remained largely intact, with only the essential Islamic features, a mihrab and a minaret, added to the structure. Today, it remains a rare, well-preserved example of how Byzantine and Ottoman histories were literally built upon one another.The mosque is easily accessible via the T1 Tram line at the Laleli stop and a few minutes' walk from the site.