OTTOMAN
PALACES
Topkapı Palace
(Topkapı Sarayı) was,
after the Old Seraglio, the second to be built
after the Conquest, between 1465 and 1478. Succesive
sultans added new parts and made the palace more
attractive. Overlooking the Marmara Sea,
the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn,
it was at the time of the Ottoman splendour a
city-palace which could accomodate about 4000
persons. During almost 400 years, 25 sultans lived
here starting from Mehmet
II the Conqueror until Abdülmecit.
|
|
|
|
Topkapı
Palace has been converted into a museum
in 1924
|
Gate
“Bab-üs-Selam”
|
|
|
|
|
Sultan
Selim III giving a reception
|
Bagdad
Pavilion
|
|
|
1.
Bab-üs Selam (Gate of Salutation)
2. Has Ahırlar ( Stables)
3. Kubbealtı (Divan or Council Hall)
4. Arms Collections
5. Former mosque for the kitchen personal
6. The Kitchens designed by Sinan (now
housing the Chinese, Japanese and Turkish
Porcelain collections)
7. Silverware and European Porcelain Collections
8. Bab-üs Saadet (the Gate of Felicity
was used as a tribune during public ceremonies)
9. Quarters of the White Eunuchs (Turkish
Embroidery Collections)
10. Arz Odası (Audiance Hall)
11. Library of Sultan Ahmet III
12. Former Mosque of the White Eunuchs
(Library and Portraits of the Sultans)
13. Former School for the Pages (Garment
and Caftan Collections)
14. The Treasury
15. Museum directorate
16. Calligraphy and Miniature Paintings
Collections
17. Clock Collections
18. The Holy relics
19. Sofa Mosque
20. Mecidiye Pavilion (restaurant and
café)
21. Residence of the Chief physician of
the Sultan
22. Sofa Köşk (Sofa Pavilion)
23. Revan Köşk (Erivan Pavilion)
24. Bağdat Köşk (Bagdad Pavilion)
25. The Circumcision Room of the Princes
26. "İftariye"(a balcony where
the sultans used to come at the end of
daily fasting during Ramadan)
The Harem
(extra ticket needed
for the compulsory guided visit): one
enters through the Black Eunuchs Quarters,
the guardians of the harem whose chief
was the fourth dignitary of the Empire.
A succession of corridors reveals alcoves,
courtyards, hammams, the Throne Room,
the Crown princes' "Golden Cage",
the Fruit Lounge" , Murat III's Bedroom,
the beautiful floral mosaics, the precious
woods....
|
The
palace and the pavilions situated among nice gardens
have been turned into a museum where rich and
beautiful pieces of porcelain, ceramics, precious
furniture, ceremonial clothing, tapestries, miniatures,
Holy Relics of Prophet Mahomet and John the Baptist
can be seen. However the main curiosities are:
|
-
The Treasury with legendary jewels such
as the drop-shaped 86 carats “Spoonmaker’s
Diamond” (Kaşıkçı) surrounded by 49 large
diamonds, the Topkapı Dagger ornemented
with 3 valuable emeralds, a golden candelabra
ornemented with 6666 diamonds. Golden thrones
covered with precious stones....and many
more marvels...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Topkapı
Dagger
|
Goldan
Throne weighing 250 kg /552 lb
|
Spoonmaker
Diamond
|
- The Harem,
a curiosity about the unknown and inaccessible,
has long puzzled the western world. The word “harem”
which in Arabic means “forbidden” refers to the
private section of a household where women live
and work. The harem was a mark of wealth and power,
and was therefore reserved to the upper class.
In the Harem of the Topkapı Palace,women who only
were allowed to leave its confines on very special
occasions, had much influence.Their life was based
on intrigues and each woman sought to promote
the interests of their own children. Here lived
the family of the sultan: the Sultana Valide (mother
of the sultan) who ruled the harem, the four wives,
the numerous concubines, the children, the servants
and the eunuchs whose black chief (Kızlar Ağası)
was the only one to know all the secret desires
of the sultan. The harem was like a labyrinth
composed of 400 rooms, 10 bathrooms (hammams)
made of marble and porphyre, fountains, corridors
and secret passages...
(Open 09.00 - 16.30. Closed on Tuesdays from the
end of September)
Map 2,
E 3
|
|
|
|
|
Hürrem
Sultana (Roxelane) favorite
Wife of Süleyman the Magnificent
|
