topkapi palace

Topkapi Palace, there are many books written on the life of the Ottoman sultans and many took place at Topkapi Palace. This is one of Turkey’s strong points.

When Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror captured Constantinople in 1453, he chose a large area on the broad top of the Third Hill as the site of his first imperial residence. He built a large complex of buildings and gardens here and they came to be known as “Eski Saray”, which means “the old palace”. A few years later, he decided to set up his palace on the north side of the First Hill, which had been the acropolis of ancient Byzantium. He built a massive wall that encircled the area along the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn.

This took place during the period 1459-65 after the Sultan left the old palace to the women of his father’s harem. The Topkapi Palace harem in its current state dates back to the reigns of Murat III (1574-95), Mehmed IV (1648-87) and Osman III (1754-57). Topkapi Palace had been changed with influences from the time of the Sultan. When the sultans did not feel safe, they retreated behind the walls away from nature, there was an attempt to bring nature inside the walls in the form of miniatures, tiles and the like. And as the empire grew, so did the palace.

topkapi palace

Topkapi Palace was more than the private residence of the Sultan and his court. It was the seat of the supreme executive and judicial council, the Divan, and of the training school, the palace school. In the first courtyard there was a hospital, a bakery, an arsenal, a state currency, a part of the treasury and the foreign service. It was open to the public. The second court was open to people doing business with the council. The third courtyard was reserved for the house of the Sultan and the children of the palace. The fourth courtyard was reserved exclusively for the use of the Sultan.

Topkapi Palace continued to be the primary residence for four centuries until in 1853 Sultan Abdul Mecid I moved to the new Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosphorus. The old palace was used as a home for the wives of the deceased sultans and their servants until the official dissolution of the harem in 1909. In 1924, Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum on the orders of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The last step was the opening of the Harem to the public in 1960.

topkapi palace

The first court
The main entrance to the palace is through Bab-i Humayun, the imperial gate. The monumental gate was erected by Mehmed “the Conqueror” in 1478. The gate rooms housed the guards who guarded the palace at all times, day and night. The imperial monogram (Tugra) is that of Mehmed II, and the other calligraphic inscriptions date back to the reconstruction of the entrance gate by Abdul Aziz in 1867.

The imperial gate leads to the first courtyard of the palace, known as the “court of the janissaries”. Janissaries were the paid soldiers of the Sultan who remained at the First Court while on duty. During the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 17-18 century, they lost their effectiveness as a military force and caused a lot of violence. Janissarry’s body was finally abandoned by Mahmud II in 1826, who was a reformist sultan.

The first courtyard is not considered the palace itself, it is only the entrance to the palace. There were the palace bakeries and the park of the Grand Palace of Byzantium on the right side. To the left of the entrance there is a small Byzantine Church of Hagia Irene and much further to the right is the State Mint (darphane) and the Outer Treasury. Just north of these buildings, a road leads to Gulhane Park and the archaeological museums.

topkapi palace

The second courtyard
At the other end of the first courtyard is “Bab-us Selam”, the gate of greetings, better known as “Orta Kapi”, the middle gate. It was the entrance to the Inner Palace and the passage was only on foot for authorized persons. Only the Sultan could ride a horse. The entrance gate is a typical military architecture of the time of Conqueror Mehmed II, twin octagonal towers topped with conical roofs. Above the outer door is the tugra, the imperial monogram of Suleiman the Magnificent and a calligraphic inscription that says “There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet”. The tower rooms housed the porters and one was for visitors and ambassadors. Visitors were first brought into the hall, served refreshments, and then accepted by the Grand Vezir or the Sultan. There was another small room for prisoners awaiting execution.

In the second courtyard to your right are the Palace Kitchens, which now serve as a collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The huge chimneys give an idea of the population of the palace in the past. On the other side of the porcelain collection, one could see the beautiful collection of European and Ottoman silver and glass from the 18th and 19th centuries. To the left of the porcelain collection there are two different sections for kitchen utensils and Ottoman vases – the porcelain collection. In the latter, it is worth seeing the coffee cups in which the Ottoman sultans are depicted.

On the left side of the second courtyard is the Imperial Council Chamber, also called the Divan. The Imperial Divan (council) has met here to discuss affairs of state. Sultan sat behind a grid on the wall and listened to the proceedings from there. The Council never knew if the Sultan was actually present and listened to them unless he chose to speak for himself. The Divan consisted of two rooms: the office of the grand vizier and the office of public archives, the tower of justice.

North of the Imperial Council Chamber is the Inner Treasury, which today features Ottoman and European armor.

topkapi palace

Beneath the Tower of Justice is the Harem, on the left side. The word harem which in Arabic means “forbidden” refers to the private sector of a Moslem household in which women live and work; the term is also used for women dwelling there. In traditional Moslem society the privacy of the household was universally observed and respectable women did not socialize with men to whom they were not married or related. Since Islamic law allowed Moslems to have a maximum of four wives, in a harem there would be up to four wives and numerous concubines and servants. Having a harem, in general, was traditionally a mark of wealth and power.

The idea of the harem came to the Ottoman sultans from the Byzantines. Before coming to Anatolia, Turks did not have harems. After the conquest of Istanbul, sultans built the Topkapi Palace step by step. Parallel to it, a harem was also begun. Eventually it became a big complex consisting of a few hundred rooms. The harem was not just a prison full of women kept for the sultan’s pleasure. It was his family quarters. Security in the harem was provided by black eunuchs. Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) was the head of the harem. She had enormous influence on everything that took place there and frequently on her son too.

topkapi palace

Among the girls there were mainly four different classes: Odalik (servant), Gedikli (sultan’s personal servants; there were only twelve of them), Ikbal or Gozde (those were Favorites who are said to have had affairs with the sultan), Kadin or Haseki Sultan (wives giving children to the sultan). When the Haseki Sultan’s son ascended to the throne, she was promoted to Valide Sultan. She was the most important woman. After her, in order of importance came the sultan’s daughters. Then came the first four wives of the sultan who gave birth to children. Their degree of importance was in the order in which their sons were born. They had conjugal rights and if the sultan did not sleep with them on two consecutive Friday nights, they could consider themselves divorced. They had their own apartments. The Favorites also had their own apartments. But others slept in dormitories.
Girls were trained according to their talents in playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing, writing, embroidery and sewing. Many parents longed for their daughters to be chosen for the Harem.

It should not be thought that women never went out. They could visit their families or just go for drives in covered carriages from which they could see out behind the veils and curtained windows. They could also organize parties up on the Bosphorus or along the Golden Horn.
When a sultan died, the new sultan would bring his new harem which meant that the former harem was dispersed. Some were sent to the old palace, some stayed as teachers or some older ones were pensioned off.

The Third Courtyard
After the kitchen exhibits, one approaches the “Bab-us saadet”, The Gate of Felicity. This is the entryway to the third courtyard and this area was strictly reserved for the use of high ranking officials and palace children. The gateway was originally built by the time of the Conquerer and restorated in the late 16th C and redecorated in rococo style. In the holidays, the Sultan sat in front of the gate on his gold and emerald throne subjects and officials. There is a little stone with a hole in the middle, it is the “Sacred Standard” in which the flag of Ottoman Empire was centered. After the conquests, the flag was brought here and put in its place with ceremonies.
Just beyond the threshold of the Gate of Felicity stands The Audience Hall of the Sultan. In this room, the Sultan received the reports of the Council Meetings presented by the Grand Vezir(Prime Minister) and high officials to make the final decisions. The Sultan received the foreign ambassadors in this room. Lord Byron or many French Ambassadors were accepted in this room. The tiles on the two sides of the door of the room are 16th C splendid Iznik Tiles. The Sultan sat on his golden and emerald decorated throne whereas all the visitors sat on the floor (now displayed in Treasury Section). The room was decorated with precious stones. The little fountain on the right of the door was for making noise during the meetings so that nobody could have heard what the subject of the meeting was.

The Third Courtyard included the Palace School, The Imperial Costumes, the Treasury and the Holy Relics section. Among the Treasury the Kasikci Diamond (the Spoonmaker’s Diamond) and the Topkapi Hanceri (the Topkapi Dagger) are the most precious. The Kasikci Diamond is 86 carats, “drop-shaped”, faceted and surrounded by 49 large diamonds. The Topkapi Dagger, a beautiful dagger ornamented with valuable emerald pieces was planned to be sent to Nadir Shah of Iran as a present, but when it was on the way it was heard that Nadir had been assassinated and so it was taken back to the palace treasury. Relics including a hand, arm and skull bones belonging to John the Baptist are also on display in the treasury section. The Holy Relics are personal belongings of the Prophet Mohammed (a mantle, sword, seal, tooth, beard and footprints) and Caliphs, Koran scripts, religious books and framed inscriptions.

topkapi palace

The Fourth Courtyard
From the Treasury Halls, there are stairs leading down to the fourth courtyard. This courtyard was exclusively reserved for the Sultan’s own pleasure and nobody else was allowed without the permission of the Sultan. Upon the entrance, there’s a little mosque on the right, this is just a little room to pray during the pray times.After a couple of stairs, comes the wonderful view of the Strait Bosphorus. There are stairs from the entrance of the courtyard to a 101-year old restaurant “Konyali” which will contribute to one’s enjoying of Istanbul.

A passageway leads to a corner which is a great spot for taking a lovely Bosphorus picture. As one turns left from the corner, there are lovely chestnut trees in the garden and the building on the left is called “the Mecidiye Kiosk”. It is the last building added into palace area. The building dates back to 1840 and was erected by Sultan Abdul Mecid I. It’s now being used as the management of “Restaurant Konyali”.

As one takes the way to the right, after taking 4-5 steps, there is a lovely passageway through a refreshing garden. After completing the steps, there is little fountain and pool on the left side. This is another courtyard which the floor is marble and there is little canopy standing to observe the gorgeous view of the Golden Horn. On the left, stands the Suleyman’s Mosque with all its magnificence.

topkapi palace

The building on the right of the canopy is called “the Baghdad Pavillion” which was constructed to celebrate the conquest of Baghdad. The building is decorated with lovely Iznik tiles and inside the building is quite ornate. The fireplace and the hand paintings on the dome are worth seeing. There are beautiful examples of mother-of pearl inlaid into beautiful wardrobes. There is a brazier in the center of the room which served as a means of making Turkish coffee or to warm up the room in cooler days.

An interesting room in the same courtyard on the left is the “the Circumcision Chamber”. This room is surrounded with splendid tiles and dates back to 16th C. According to the Islamic principles, all the male children should be circumsized after completion of 6-7 years of age.
The last pavillion on the Fourth Courtyard is called “Revan Kosku”, Revan Pavillion. It was built by Murat IV in 1636 to commemorate the capture of Revan in Iran. It is a small replica of the Baghdad Pavilion. The central brazier was a gift of the French King Louis XV, to Mahmut I, made by Duplesisa, a famous worker in bronze of the time. This room was also known as the Turban Room, as it was here that the sultana’s turbans were kept.