... Look to the right (scroll right) and you can spot one in this twilight panorama across the Bosporus Strait and along the skyline of the historic city of Istanbul . ... The palace was built in the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the 15th century conquerer of the city that was then Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. The well-lit domed building immediately to the left of the palace is Ayasofya ( Hagia Sophia ), a famous example of Byzantine architecture, now a museum. ...