The Tekfur Palace (Tekfur Sarayı) was built in Edirnekapı as an adjunction to the city’s land walls. It is the only palace that remains from the Blachernae Palace Complex dating from the Byzantine period.
Although there are conflicts about when and by whom it was built, it is thought that Tekfur Palace was built for the accomodation of the servants in the Blachernae Palace.
After the conquest of Istanbul, the palace remained abandoned until the end of the 17th Century. It was used variously as a zoo, a ceramics workshop and a glass factory. The famous and glamorous ‘Kaşıkçı Diamond’ was found in the ‘garbage’ of Tekfur Palace.