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Topkapi Palace.

Topkapi – A Palace of Dreams and Tears from the Ottoman Empire

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The palace of Topkapi near the Bosphorus strait witnessed the greatest glories and the most heartbreaking tragedies in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Currently the Topkapi palace is a museum but less than 100 years ago it was the home of a sultan, his harem, and his many attendants.

The palace was built in Istanbul between 1466 and 1478 by sultan Mehmet II. After the conquest of the city in 1453, he needed a new place in which to live and rule the empire. Topkapi was created on top of ancient ruins from the Byzantine Emperors. This may have been because the Ottomans wanted to be seen as a continuation of the glory of ancient power, not as just creators of a new one. In the late 15th century the palace became the main residence for sultans.

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul. (muratart /Adobe)

In Turkish, ''Topkapi'' means ''The Gate of Cannons.” The palace’s name comes from the huge cannons displayed outside of its gates. They were in use during the conquest of the city.

On April 3, 1924, it was decided that the Topkapi Palace should be transformed into a museum. It was the first museum of the Republic of Turkey. The palace continues to be located in the heart of the city, close to famous mosques, such as the Suleymaniye and the Blue Mosque, near the Bosphorus. Many of the wooden buildings disappeared or were replaced by newer ones, but the main architectural features of the palace still exist.

The Süleymaniye Mosque is an Ottoman imperial mosque located on the Third Hill of Istanbul, Turkey. (blackdiamond67 /Adobe)

The Sultan’s Three Residences

Originally there were around 700-800 residents in the palace, but over the centuries, the number raised to 5,000 people. The palace has three main parts: The Old Palace, the New Palace, and Yildiz Palace. The one which is known as Topkapi is the New Palace.

The Old Palace was the first construction created in the newly conquered city. It was damaged by fire in 1514 and after that most of the people went to live in the New Palace. The old one was partially restored and rebuilt, but fire destroyed it once more during the reign of sultan Abdulaziz, who ruled between 1861 – 1876. This time, the Commander-in-Chief gate was put there in place of the palace. Now, it is a part of Istanbul University.

Partial view of Seraglio Point with Topkapı Palace and Incirli Kiosk, 1559. (Public Domain)

The building of the New Palace was started by Mehmed II and it was much more luxurious. The site dominated the landscape and contained state buildings, pleasure pavilions, baths, workshops, kitchens, residential quarters, etc. All of the sultan’s private and political life was centered in this site. The ruler met with his advisers there, celebrated battles his soldiers won, and made strategic plans. With time, it also became a center of family life and local culture.

Sultan Mehmed II ordered the initial construction around the 1460s.

Sultan Mehmed II ordered the initial construction around the 1460s. (Public Domain)

In the 18th century, a new palace was built in Besiktas in Istanbul. It was a summer palace for Sultan Selim III (1789 – 1807). Sultan Mahmud II (1808 – 39), who loved to get out of the crowded court, spent lots of time in this palace. The Yildiz Palace was an oasis for a ruler, a place to rest without leaving the capital. However, this idea was changed by Sultan Abdulhamid II, who moved his entire court there.

The Heart of a Harem

The harem was a home for hundreds of women and their children. It was also the place where princes lived until they were 16 years old. The women of Ottoman harems received the best education and worked to support the finances of the palace.

Imaginary scene from the sultan's harem.

Imaginary scene from the sultan's harem. (Public Domain)

The name ''Harem'' means ''forbidden'' in Arabic. Most men couldn't enter this space. Originally it was even separate from the sultan’s palace. The situation changed when a beautiful and intelligent woman stole the heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She was born in the territory of The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Her name was Alexandra, but the sultan called her Hurrem –cheerful one.  She was a Christian and wanted to create a real relationship with the sultan, but to achieve her goals she also needed help from fate. As Andrew Colt wrote in his book:

''When a fire did a great damage to the Old Seraglio (Old Palace), Roxelane used the opportunity to ask for permission to live in the New Palace – known to us as Topkapi – the center of political life and the sultan's court, where he also had an apartment. She brought with her a crowd of eunuchs, black and white, servants and domestics; once installed there, she stayed. The Harem and the state were no longer separate; the consequences of this were to prove deplorable.''

The center of the power in the Harem was located in the Valide Sultan's apartments. The Valide was the Queen Mother and she was the first lady of the Imperial Ottoman Harem. The woman who ruled the harem could be the mother or wife of a sultan. The first great Valide was Hurrem Sultan, but it is necessary to mention women like Nurbanu Sultan, wife of Selim II, and Kosem Sultan, wife of Ahmed I. All of these women were powerful and had skills which allowed them to multiply the income generated by the harem.

Portrait of the mother Sultan. On the right, the head of a black eunuch of the harem.

Portrait of the mother Sultan. On the right, the head of a black eunuch of the harem. (Public Domain)

Some of the decorations still in the Topkapi harem can be linked back to the women who ruled this place in the 16th century, but most of the items are from the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

A New Life for Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace has an impressive library and archive, which has a collection of approximately 300,000 archive documents. Topkapi’s gardens are filled with plants like hyacinths, roses, tulips, etc., and are still related to the Ottoman tradition.

When Topkapi Palace became a museum it was made available to visitors for the first time in history. The museum contains many treasures left by people who lived there for more than 400 years. The impressive collection located in the treasury is only a small part of the collection that is tucked away in storage.

Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Turkey.

Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Turkey. (CC BY SA 3.0)

Apart from portraits, jewels, and personal items which belonged to sultans and their families, the museum exhibition contains Holy Relics - including artifacts related to the prophet Muhammad.

Topkapi Palace now welcomes tourists throughout the year. It has become a center for knowledge about the Ottoman Empire and a calming place for rest for people who would like to imagine what life must have been like in this magnificent palace of yesteryear.

Inside the harem section of Topkapi Palace. (Pixabay License)

Top Image: Topkapi Palace. Source: Koraysa /Adobe

By Natalia Klimczak

References:

Kemal Cig Sabahattin, Cengiz Koseoglu, The Topkapi Saray Museum – Architecture, 1988.

Andre Colt, Suleiman the Magnificent, 2005.

http://topkapisarayi.gov.tr/en/history

http://www.greatistanbul.com/topkapi_palace.html

http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/intro.html

 

Comments

Top ( Cannon) and kapı ( door) where ı without fullstop.

I haven't been to Istanbul, but I have always been fascinated with Constantinople and the Byzantine empire (which considered themselves the Roman Empire). I can imagine the mysterious christian relics, golden processions, and the largest cathedral in the world. The building of the Hagia Sophia was finished in CE 537. When Constantinople fell in 1452, it was still the worlds largest cathedral. And when the Turks decided to build the Süleymaniye Mosque around 1550, over a thousand years after the Hagia Sophia was built, they pretty much copied Hagia Sophia instead of coming up with there own design. In fact they built five mosques copying the Hagia Sophia. I guess they figured Muslims had to visit Mecca one time in there life, why not attract the faithful to Istanbul (Sin Free City) on the remaining years. In fact they did such a good job with the Mosques and the countless other improvements to the city, Istanbul is a major attraction to visitors of all religions to this day. Kudos

ancient-origins's picture

Hi Gord. The forums are open only to registered users due to a large ammount of negative and spam comments/topics. To register as a user is completely free!

I would have liked to have posted a comment that had been posted that one can read under 'posted comments'. The problem is that when I try to post it turns out you get a restricted page. I found out that the posted comment that I wonted to respond to was posted in the FORUM section. If you are going to post comments that are in the forum section that can be read my anyone due to the fact that it is posted in the general posted site- why can we not respond to it?- without having to register in the forum section ie- become a member?

Natalia

Natalia Klimczak is an historian, journalist and writer and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the Faculty of Languages, University of Gdansk. Natalia does research in Narratology, Historiography, History of Galicia (Spain) and Ancient History of Egypt, Rome and Celts. She... Read More

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