Topkapı Palace

The Topkapı Palace is the principal residence of the Ottoman sultans from the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 until the move to the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856. The palace was built by Mehmed II the Conqueror between 1459 and 1465, on the Seraglio Point, the promontory that commands the entrance to the Golden Horn. The palace is one of the most visited sites in modern Istanbul, and it is one of the principal monuments of the Ottoman government. The present article focuses on the layout, the principal buildings, the harem, the treasury, and the daily life of the palace in the centuries of its use. For the institutional setting in which the palace operated, see the article on the Sultan and the Imperial Court; for the imperial council that met in the second courtyard, see the article on the Grand Vizier and the Divan.

Key dates

• 1459 — Mehmed II begins construction of the palace on the Seraglio Point.
• 1465 — construction of the first courtyard; the Bâb-üs Selâm (Gate of Salutation) is in place.
• 1522 — Suleiman rebuilds the kitchens after the conquest of Rhodes.
• 1574–1595 — Murad III’s reign; the Revan and Baghdad kiosks are added by his successor Murad IV in the 1630s.
• 1719 — the Sünnet Odası (Circumcision Room) is rebuilt under Ahmed III.
• 1856 — the court moves to Dolmabahçe; 1924, the palace opens to the public.

The Site

The Seraglio Point, on which the palace stands, was the site of the great Byzantine acropolis of Constantinople. The acropolis had contained the imperial palace of the Eastern Roman Empire, the cathedral of Hagia Eirene, the imperial mint, the imperial library, and various other public buildings. The whole complex was enclosed within a fortified perimeter that extended from the sea walls of the Marmara shore to the sea walls of the Golden Horn. The Ottoman palace reused the Byzantine walls, the Byzantine cisterns, and the Byzantine foundations; the principal buildings of the palace were new constructions, built on the cleared site of the old acropolis. The site was exceptionally well chosen: it commanded the entrance to the Golden Horn, it was surrounded by water on three sides, and it was connected to the rest of the city by a single fortified land wall.

The Four Courtyards

The palace was organized into four courtyards, each more private than the last, designed to regulate access to the sultan’s person.

The first courtyard, also called the Birun (the Outer Service), was the only part of the palace to which ordinary subjects had free access. The courtyard contained the imperial mint, the principal bakery, the Aya İrini (Hagia Eirene, the former Byzantine church used as an armory), the outer gardens, and the principal gate of the palace, the Bâb-üs Selâm (Gate of Salutation).

The second courtyard, also called the Divan Meydanı (the Divan Square), was the principal space of the central government. It was entered through the Bâb-üs Selâm (Gate of Salutation) and contained the Divan-ı Hümayun (the domed chamber in which the imperial council met), the Kubbealtı (the audience window onto the Divan), the imperial kitchens, the inner treasury, the stables, and the dormitories of the inner pages of the household. The Bâb-üs Saâde (Gate of Felicity), at the far end of this courtyard, gave access to the third. The Janissary barracks — the Kule or Kulleler — were outside the palace proper, in the Et Meydanı / Soğukçeşme area at the foot of the Seraglio Point, and not inside the second courtyard.

The third courtyard, also called the Enderun, was the principal space of the palace school, the Enderun Mektebi, where the most promising students of the devshirme were trained for the senior service of the state. It contained the Arz Odası (the Audience Chamber), the Has Oda (the private apartments of the sultan), the library of Ahmed III, the Sünnet Odası (the Circumcision Room), the dormitories of the senior students, and the principal mosque of the palace. The Has Oda contained some of the most precious objects in the palace, including the famous Topkapı Dagger and the Kaçgöbek chest.

The fourth courtyard, also called the İç Oğlanlar, was the innermost sanctum of the imperial household. It contained the private apartments of the sultan, the Yalı Köşkü (the Water Kiosk), the Mecidiye Köşkü, the Revan and Bagdat kiosks added by Murad IV in the 1630s, the Iftariye (Iftar) Bower, the harem, the private gardens, and the Hünkar Sofası — the imperial viewing terrace from which the sultan watched the processions of the circumcision festivals and the imperial festivals.

The Harem

The harem, in Ottoman usage, designated the domestic quarters of the imperial household. It occupied a separate, walled enclosure within the third and fourth courtyards of the palace, accessed through a single guarded door. The harem housed the female relatives of the dynasty, the concubines of the sultan, the male children of the lineage, and the eunuchs and female servants who attended them. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the harem became one of the most powerful political institutions of the empire, with the valide sultan (the mother of the reigning sultan) presiding over the harem and exercising a substantial influence over court politics. The harem contained more than four hundred rooms, including the Valide Sultan Apartments, the Sultan Apartments, the Kafes (the Cage, where the princes of the blood were confined from the seventeenth century), the harem mosque, the harem baths, and the harem school. Leslie Peirce’s The Imperial Harem (1993) is the standard treatment; she reads the harem not as a “seraglio” in the European sense but as a household of status in which rank was determined by fertility and seniority.

The Imperial Treasury and the Famous Artifacts

The imperial treasury (Hazine-i Hümâyûn) was housed in the third courtyard, in a small domed chamber that was the most secure space of the palace. The treasury contained the personal jewels of the sultan, the crowns and regalia of the dynasty, the gifts of foreign ambassadors, and the principal gifts offered to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The contents of the treasury were inventoried in the Hazine Defterleri (the treasury registers), and the most precious items were displayed on the Helvahane (the dessert room) of the third courtyard.

Four of the palace’s holdings are famous enough to deserve separate mention:

• The Kaşıkçı Elması (Spoonmaker’s Diamond). An 86-carat pear-shaped diamond set in a ring of gold, surrounded by 49 smaller brilliants. The fourth-largest diamond of its kind in the world, it was found, by the traditional account, in the rubbish heap of Eğrikapı in Istanbul in 1669; the alternative account, in the court chronicles, has it smuggled out of India via the Mughal court. The diamond takes its name from the kaşıkçıbaşı (chief of the imperial spoon-makers) who is said to have picked it up; the case is one of the minor curiosities of Ottoman provenance. It is the single most valuable object in the palace.

• The Topkapı Dagger. A gold-set dagger with three large emeralds in the hilt and a watch concealed in the pommel, made in Istanbul in 1746–1747 as a present from Sultan Mahmud I to the Persian shah Nadir Shah, on the occasion of the settlement of the Ottoman–Persian frontier. Nadir Shah refused the gift, ostensibly on the grounds that the name of the Ottoman sultan was inscribed on it; the dagger returned to Istanbul and became a state treasure. The story is the most cited anecdote in the treasury.

• The Hırka-i Saadet (Holy Mantle). The mantle of the Prophet Muhammad, kept in the Has Oda (the Private Chamber) of the third courtyard, in a sequence of seventeen locked rooms, opened only on certain festivals of the Islamic calendar. The mantle was brought to Istanbul from Cairo in the seventeenth century and has been one of the principal relics of the empire ever since; the Şeyhülislam himself, or a delegate of the highest religious authority, supervised its display. The Chamber of the Holy Mantle is the most sacred space in the palace, and the door of the Has Oda was opened on the 15th of Ramadan, on the eve of the Mawlid, and on other specified occasions.

• The Kaşıkçı Elması case, and other minor relics. The treasury also holds the Sancak-ı Şerif (the standard of the Prophet), the keys of the Kaaba, the tuğra of Suleiman engraved on a gold plate, and a collection of Chinese porcelain (the Çin Köşkü was originally a part of the palace, but its contents are now in the museum). The personal effects of the sultans — the cradle of Murad III, the armor of Suleiman, the pen box (divit) of Mahmud II — are now in the palace’s separate Has Oda collection.

The Palace as Museum

The palace began to lose its central role in the seventeenth century, as the sultans withdrew behind the walls of the harem and the Grand Viziers exercised more direct authority. The palace lost its principal function in 1856, when Abdulmecid I moved the principal residence to the Dolmabahçe Palace, an immense Baroque-Rococo palace built on European models. The Topkapı Palace was preserved as a treasury and museum, and it was opened to the public in 1924 by the Turkish Republic. The museum houses the imperial treasury, the imperial wardrobe, the imperial kitchens, the imperial armory, the imperial library, the Holy Mantle collection of the Prophet, the imperial portraits, and the principal relics of the dynasty. The palace is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated in 1985 as part of the historic areas of Istanbul.

Visiting

The palace is open to visitors year-round except Tuesdays. The standard ticket covers the four courtyards, the Has Oda (Chamber of the Holy Mantle), and the Arz Odası. The Harem section — the most popular part of the palace — requires a separate ticket and a timed entry. Hürrem Sultan, Rüstem Pasha, and the valide of the late seventeenth century are the principal subjects of the Harem tour; the route is well marked, and the standard visit takes 45 minutes. The Library of Ahmed III in the third courtyard is a quiet alternative to the Harem; the colonnaded facade and the İznik tile-work are the principal attractions.

Related articles

• Ottoman Government — the comprehensive overview of how the Ottoman state was governed.
• Mehmed II the Conqueror — the sultan who built the Topkapı Palace between 1459 and 1465.
• Suleiman the Magnificent — under whose reign the palace reached the height of its cultural and political prestige.
• The Sultan and the Imperial Court — the institutional setting in which the palace was the principal stage.
• The Grand Vizier and the Divan — the imperial council that met in the second courtyard of the palace.
• The Tanzimat Reforms — the centralizing reforms that eventually transformed the palace into a museum.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a visit take?

A serious visit, including the Harem, takes two to three hours. The Harem tour is the bottleneck — timed entry, 45 minutes in the section — and visitors in high season should book the Harem ticket online in advance. The four courtyards alone can be done in 90 minutes; the Has Oda (Chamber of the Holy Mantle) is closed on certain religious days of the year, and visitors should check the museum’s site for the calendar.

What is in the Harem?

The Harem is a separate, walled enclosure within the third and fourth courtyards, with more than four hundred rooms. The principal sights are the Valide Sultan Apartments, the apartments of Hürrem Sultan, the apartments of Suleiman and Hürrem, the Courtyard of the Eunuchs, the Courtyard of the Concubines, and the twin apartments of the princes. The Harem tour is conducted in one direction, and the standard route covers the principal rooms. Leslie Peirce’s The Imperial Harem is the standard guide for visitors who want to read the rooms as a political institution rather than as a curiosity.

Can you still see the Holy Mantle?

Yes, but only on certain religious days of the year. The Hırka-i Saadet is kept in the Has Oda (Chamber of the Holy Mantle) in the third courtyard, in a sequence of locked rooms, and the chamber is opened on the 15th of Ramadan, on the eve of the Mawlid, and on a small number of other specified occasions. The chamber is open to visitors on the other days of the year, but the mantle itself is displayed only on the religious days. The schedule is published on the museum’s official site.

Sources and further reading

• Godfrey Goodwin, A History of Ottoman Architecture (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971). The standard English-language survey of Ottoman building, with detailed sections on the Topkapı Palace and its successive additions.
• İlber Ortaylı, Topkapı Palace: An Palace and Its Stories (Timas Publishing, 2008). A short, authoritative introduction by the leading Ottoman social historian.
• Ersin Alper, The Topkapı Palace (Timas Publishing, 2000). A well-illustrated guide to the surviving buildings, the Harem, the Treasury, and the collections.
• Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford University Press, 1993). The definitive study of the Harem as a political institution and a domestic establishment.
• Caroline Finkel, Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire 1300–1922 (Basic Books, 2005). The standard single-volume history in English, with detailed treatment of the palace as the institutional centre of the empire.