July
29
/ 2022
Centuries before Versailles, Buckingham Palace and the Kremlin Palace, on the shore where the Western world meets the East, cupped by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn, there rose a palace of such splendor, called Topkapi, where Ottoman sultans lived in lavish luxury, entertained kings, princes and foreign dignitaries, hoarded and displayed their riches and treasures and kept a harem of 1,000 concubines. Topkapi’s grandeur is tangible evidence of the Islamic Ottoman victory when Constantinople, the last bastion of the Roman-Byzantine Empire, finally fell. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"97983","attributes":{"alt":"View of the Fourth Courtyard of Topkapi Palace secluded behind the Walls of Constantinople (EvrenKalinbacak/Adobe Stock)","class":"media-image","height":"346","style":"width: 610px; height: 346px;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"610"}}]] View of the Fourth Courtyard of Topkapi Palace secluded behind the Walls
