Nea Ekklesia

[1] The church was built under the personal supervision of Basil,[2][3] in the southeastern corner of the Great Palace complex,[4] near the location of the earlier tzykanistērion (polo field).

[4] Emperor Isaac II Angelos stripped it of much of its decoration, its furniture and liturgical vessels,[8] and used them to restore the church of St Michael at Anaplous.

[12] The church was the crowning achievement of Basil's building program, and he spared no expense to decorate it as lavishly as possible: other churches and structures in the capital, including the mausoleum of Justinian, were stripped,[12] and the Imperial fleet employed with transporting marble for its construction, with the result that Syracuse, the main Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, was left unsupported and fell to the Arabs.

[13] Basil's grandson, the Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, gives the following description of the church's decoration in a laudatory ekphrasis:[14] This church, like a bride adorned with pearls and gold, with gleaming silver, with a variety of many-hued marble, with compositions of mosaic tesserae, and clothing of silken stuffs, he [Basil] offered to Christ, the immortal Bridegroom.

The walls on either side are beautified with costly marbles of many hues, while the sanctuary is enriched with gold and silver, precious stones, and pearls.

The barrier that separates the sanctuary from the nave, including the columns that pertain to it and the lintel that is above them; the seats that are within, and the steps that are in front of them, and the holy tables themselves – all of these are of silver suffused with gold, of precious stones and costly pearls.

As for the pavement, it appears to be covered in silken stuffs of Sidonian workmanship; to such an extent has it been adorned all over with marble slabs of different colors enclosed by tessellated bands of varied aspect, all accurately joined together and abounding in elegance.The atrium of the church lay before its western entrance, and was decorated with two fountains of marble and porphyry.