This is the old main entrance. One enters through a hall (into the esonarthex) and past a set of bronze doors taken from a second century BC temple at Tarsus under Theophilos (829-842). Above the entrance to the esonarhex is a mosaic from the mid-tenth century AD of Maria with the Christ child – blessing - on her lap. On her right is Constantine the Great, on her left Justinian, respectively offering models of the city and the church.