About four centuries was the Topkapı Palace, the center of the Ottoman world. Here lived the Sultan, the political and spiritual leader of Muslims, and his harem family were here but also the kingdom transactions, the tip of the Ottoman bureaucracy and the educated elite corps of the Sultan, the Janissaries, housed.
Sultan Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople, verschmähte the old palace of the Byzantine emperor and was already a few years after his victory the Topkapı Palace create. He chose exposed to the square of the city, the tip of the peninsula on which Constantinople was built, on the one side of the Marmara Sea and on the other side of the Golden Horn is lapped. Although the palace annex large room occupies – temporarily lived more than 5000 people within the walls – she does not monumental. The buildings are all one-or two-and bribe rather by their intricate architecture than by majestic force – a stone became my tent city that some visitors to see. Although over the centuries, and always have been, has participated in the basic structure of the palace annex to this day nothing changed.
Topkapı Sarayı is divided into four courtyards. Now freely accessible first courtyard, known by the Bab-ı Hümayun, the “Imperial Gate”, entering the Ottoman period was in the base of the Janissaries. The Court after entering the left hand is Irene Church (Aya Irini), from the 8th Century, the “Celestial Church for peace”, was signed by the Janissaries as an arsenal and armory needed. It is now a venue for classical concerts and exhibitions. In its originality, it is one of the most impressive Byzantine religious buildings but can not be visited.
At the end of the first courtyard, at the Bab-ı Stewarton, the “Friedenstor,” begins the actual museum. The second farm, you now enter, was the division of the Ottoman Empire. The Cabinet met here (Diwan), here we waited on an audience, and here were the executioner placed the judgments of the sultan in the first court enforced. On the left side, diagonally opposite the entrance, is the “Divan”. At one corner is a lattice window through which the sultan secretly Cabinet meetings could keep an eye on. On the opposite side of the courtyard is the huge kitchen wing, in which several thousand people was masterfully cooked. The domes of the kitchen are from the Sea of Marmara from particularly good to see. There is now the largest collection of Chinese porcelain in the world outside China placed. Unfortunately, from the over 10 000 copies only a small fraction issued.
Also from the second one enters the courtyard of the fabled harem. Here are the sultans Hundreds of women held here, the palace intrigue their output, and here was the “Black Eunuch”, the guardians of harems. Indeed, the harem was originally written by none other than the man entered the Sultan – the eunuch was not more than men. From 16 Century after the Ottomans abandoned the radical practice had any brothers kill the heir to the throne, so as to avoid succession, were also brought under the prince. Actual ruler in the harem, but was the Valide Sultan, the Sultan mother. The harem is a palace inside the palace, so to speak, the private area of the palace, where women are comfortable, but in a golden cage were placed.
The leadership of the harem shows both luxurious baths, wonderful lounges and a wonderful reception room, but at the same time conveys an impression of the narrowness, where the women lived here partly to have. In the harem are every half hour only small groups admitted.
The output leads to the third courtyard, the main exhibition area of today’s museum. Directly behind the gate for the third courtyard, the Bab-ı Saadet, the “Gate of Felicity,” is the audience room of the Sultan, in which the original throne still be admired. The highlight of any visit to the halls of the court to the right side finish. Here are the most beautiful dresses, the rarest weapons and precious treasures of the Ottoman Empire issued. Starting from the courtly festive clothes on the famous saber of the Sultans to state resources such as the juwelenbesetzten spring bushes, the famous Topkapi dagger and the 86-carat diamond spoon is the worldly glory of the Ottomans spread here. Directly opposite on the other side of the courtyard are the religious treasures, including relics like the proverbial beard hair of the Prophet Muhammad a footprint of gates and parts of the Kaaba in Mecca. Here, even during visiting hours from the Koran recited.
The last so-called fourth courtyard is not a closed area, but a large garden, where several pavilions of relaxation and recreation of the Sultans served. On the right side was part of a palace converted into a DCAF, from where a magnificent view of the entrance to the Bosporus, which Genueserviertel and the Asian part of Istanbul – here you can from the palace exhausting tour recover somewhat. Wednesday-Monday from 9-16 clock opened, the harem of 9.30-15.30 clock, the entrance to Topkapı costs about 12 euros to the harem and treasure each of approximately 6.50 Euro.
