The Myrelaion monastery was founded on the premises of a palace which the future Emperor Romanos Lekapenos constructed in the place called Myrelaion (=»the place of myrrh») in Constantinople. The palace was built upon a huge 5th century rotunda with an external diameter of 41.8 metres. The rotunda was transformed into a cistern with the help of 70 columns and a system of vaults. This palace became the center of his imperial authority after his accession to the throne as well as the family shrine of the Lekapenoi.  The first to be buried there were his wife Theodora (+922) and his eldest son Christopher (+931). Romanos Lekapenos transformed it later into a nunnery and, after his deposition and death in exile in 948, he was also buried in Myrelaion.