About Topkapı Palace Museum

Topkapı Palace is the palace in Sarayburnu, Istanbul, where the Ottoman sultans lived and was used as the administrative center of the state for 600 years of the 400-year history of the Ottoman Empire. One zamNearly 4.000 people lived within moments.

The Topkapı Palace was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmed in 1478, and it became the administrative center of the state and the official residence of the Ottoman sultans for about 380 years until Abdulmecid built the Dolmabahçe Palace. The palace, which was located on an area of ​​approximately 700.000 m² during its establishment, has an area of ​​80.000 m² today.

Topkapı Palace was evacuated when the people of the palace started living in Dolmabahçe Palace, Yıldız Palace and other palaces. Topkapı Palace, where many officials lived after it was abandoned by the sultans, zamhas not lost its importance at the moment. Palace zaman zamthe moment has been repaired. A special importance was given to the annual maintenance of the Hırka-i Saadet Department, where the Holy Relics were visited by the sultan and his family during the month of Ramadan.

Fatih Sultan Mehmed started the construction of Topkapı Palace in 1465

The opening of Topkapı Palace to visitors like a museum for the first time came across the reign of Abdülmecid. The belongings in the Topkapı Palace Treasury were shown to the British ambassador of that period. After that, it becomes a tradition to show the antiquities in the Topkapı Palace Treasury to foreigners and Abdulaziz zamAt the moment, showcases with glass windows are made in the empire style, and the antiquities in the treasury are started to be shown to foreigners in these showcases. II. Although it was planned that Topkapı Palace Treasury-i Hümâyûn was opened to the public on Sundays and Tuesdays during the abdication of Abdulhamid, this could not be realized.

Topkapı Palace, which was affiliated with the Istanbul İstanbulsâr-ı Atika Museums Directorate on April 3, 1924 upon the order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, started to serve under the name of Treasury Kethüdalığı and then the Treasury Directorate. Today, it continues to serve under the name of Topkapı Palace Museum Directorate.

Topkapı Palace was opened to visitors as a museum on October 1924, 9 after some minor repairs were made in 1924 and administrative measures were taken for visitors to visit. The sections opened to visit at that time are Kubbealtı, Supply Room, Mecidiye Mansion, Hekimbaşı Room, Mustafa Paşa Mansion and Bağdat Mansion.

The palace, which attracts large tourist masses today, has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 and is one of the first historical monuments in the historical peninsula of Istanbul. Today it serves as a museum.

Sections of Topkapi Palace

Aerial view of Topkapı Palace, Hagia Irene, Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmet Mosque are also seen in the background (October 2014) Topkapı Palace was established on the Byzantine acropolis in Sarayburnu at the end of the historical Istanbul peninsula between the Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. The palace was separated from the city by the land by Sûr-ı Sultâni, built by Fatih Sultan Mehmed, and by the Byzantine walls by the sea. Apart from the doors opening to various places in the palace with various land gates and sea gates, the monumental entrance of the palace is the Bâb-ı Hümâyûn (Sultanate Gate) behind Hagia Sophia. Topkapı Palace is divided into two main sections in accordance with the structure created due to the administration, education place and the residence of the sultan. These are Birun, which consists of service structures in the first and second courtyards, and Enderûn, which consists of structures related to internal organization.

Saray-ı Hümayun and Inner Palace

The structures of Saray-ı Hümayun surrounded by city walls: Bab-ı Hümayun (Sultanate Gate), Hasbahçe (Gülhane Park), Istabl-ı Âmire (Has Ahırlar), Soğukçeşme Gate, Otluk Gate, Wood Gate, Fishhouse Gate, Vükela Gate, Yalıköşkü Gate, Alay Pavilion, Basketmakers Pavilion, Waterside Mansion, Pearly Pavilion, Şevkiye Pavilion, Old Boathouses, Yeni Mint House, Mint Mansion, Gülhane Pavilion, Gothic Column, Tiled Mansion, Revan Mansion, Baghdad Mansion, III. Osman Mansion, Sofa Mansion.

Structures in the inner palace: Bâbüsselâm (Salute Gate), Kitchen wing, Babüssaade (Saadet Gate), Supply Room, Fatih Mansion, Hekimbaşı room, Ağalar Mosque, Inner treasure, Treasure of Treasure, Has Ahır, Kubbealtı, III. Ahmet Library, Circumcision Chamber, III. Murat Mansion

Bab-ı Hümayun (Sultanate Gate)

The palace area in Sur-i Sultani, which separates the palace from the city and was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmed with the construction of the palace, is entered from the Bâb-ı Hümâyûn.

Model of Topkapi Palace

At the top of the door, in a muslim (mutual) style, written by Ali bin Yahya Sofi, with a celi sulus calligraphy and 45-48 of Surah Hijrah. verses are written. In his simplified form in the first inscription above the door, he writes: “This blessed castle was built with the consent and grace of God. Sultan Mehmed Han, the son of Sultan Mehmed Han, the son of Sultan Mehmed Han, the sultan of the land, the right of the seas, the shadow of God in the two realms, the help of God in the East and the West, the hero of water and land, the father of the conquest of Constantinople and the conquests of the world. 'Allah Almighty make his reign eternal and raise his maqam over the brightest star of the angel, by the order of Abu Feth Mehmed Mehmed Khan, it was reconstructed and built in the holy month of Ramadan (November-December 883). statement takes place.

II, under the inscription and on the inside of the door. It is understood from the tugras of Mahmud and Abdülaziz that the door was repaired several times.

There are small rooms reserved for caretakers on both sides of Bab-ı Hümayun. There was a small mansion in the shape of a mansion that Fatih Sultan Mehmed had built for him because he burned in 1866 on the door. The main importance of the upper floor is that it was used as Beytül property (Door between the treasures). This space, which is connected with the sultan's treasure system, which is the system of the sultan's deceased servants or the wealth of the deceased persons, was used as the place where the commodity that was not taken into the sultan treasury was entrusted to seven years.

Courtyard I (Alay Square)

This asymmetric courtyard, which is entered from Bab-ı Hümayun, is located in the second level of the palace-city-state tripartite management system, which is a center where the public can enter on certain days and maintain its relations with the state. It is the only area where the state man can enter with a horse.

The 300-meter-long tree-lined road connecting Bab-ı Hümayun to Bab-üs Selam was the scene of the sultans passing their Cülus, Sefer and Cuma Selamlıks with splendor. zamAt the moment, the Elçi regiments were the scene of the Besik regiments and the Valide regiments during the transfer of the Valide Sultans to the palace.

Service structures in Alay Square

On the left side there was a wood warehouse and wickerwork furnaces that met the needs of the palace. These parts, which form a whole with their baths, wards, workshops, stables, have not survived to the present day. The building on the left side of the courtyard, which today serves as Karakol Restaurant, was used as the outer station of Topkapı Palace during the Ottoman period.

Hagia Irene Church, which has been used as a pockethouse since the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, is one of the rare buildings that have survived to the present day. These structures, which started from the side of the Cebehane and stretched along the road that gave way to the gardens of the palace and the Tiled Pavilion, have completely changed today.

17.786 square meters of the mint has survived to the present day, the Mint General Directorate Stamp Printing Department, the Relief and Monuments Directorate and the Restoration and Conservation Central Laboratory Directorate use some of these structures. Koz came after the gate keepers Istanbul Archaeological Museums across the lessor remaining structures from the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism History Foundation uses.

Structures Not Found in the First Courtyard Today, at the end of the mint buildings, it is known that an establishment called Girl watchers or Koz watchers was located. The gate on the road where the Koz Bekçiler Furnace, whose duties are to protect the warehouses and harem from the outside, is also called the Koz Bekçiler Gate.

From the entrance of Bâb-ı Hümâyûn, there was the Enderûn Hospital, on the right side, the road descending to the buildings and gardens on the Marmara Sea side of the palace, and the gate called Dizme or Dizma Kapısı, Hasırın and Cabinet Cabinet.

As we approached the entrance of the gate, II. The 16th century Executioner Fountain, which was carried by Abdulhamid to the wall on this side of the square, is seen. On the left side of the road, there was a small octagonal mansion-like structure on the part of the courtyard close to Bab-üs Selam. The structure, which has a pointed roof in the form of a cone, is also known as the Paper Emi Tower or the Deavi Pavilion. Every day, one of the viziers of Kubbealtı came here to collect the petitions given by the people, listen to the applicants and present the matter to Dîvân-ı Hümâyun.

Today, there is a tea garden belonging to DÖSİM where food and beverage service is served to the visitors who enter and leave the palace at the location of this place.

Bâbüsselâm (Selam Gate / Middle Gate)

Bâbüsselâm (Gate of Salam) was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmed in 1468. After the repairs made during the statutory period, the gate reflecting the classic elements of the 16th century Ottoman architecture with its wide arched portal vault, side niches and its two towers is similar to the European castle doors. The iron gate was built in 1524 by Isa bin Mehmed. Word-i Tawheed, Sultan II. Mahmud's monogram, the repair inscriptions dated 1758 and Sultan III. They have Mustafa tugras.

II. Courtyard (Divan Square)

The courtyard was presumably built in 1465 during the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. There are palace hospital, patisserie, Janissary barracks, Istabl-ı Âmire stables, Harem around. It has a sofa in the north and palace kitchens in the south. In archaeological studies, Byzantine and Roman ruins were found in the palace. These finds are exhibited in the second courtyard in front of the palace kitchens. There is a cistern from the Byzantine period under the palace. While in use during the Ottoman period, there were a large number of rabbit birds and gazelles in the courtyard. Istabl-Âmire (Has Ahırlar) was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmet and renovated during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. A vast treasure called the Treasure of Raht is kept in a private barn. Beşir Ağa Mosque and Bath, built in the name of Harem Ağa Beşir Aga, are also located here.

Palace Kitchens and Porcelain Collection

The kitchens are located on an inner street between the courtyard and the Marmara Sea. The palace kitchens, inspired by the kitchens of Edirne Palace, were built in the 15th century. Kitchens damaged after the fire of 1574 were redesigned by Mimar Sinan.

They are the greatest kitchens of the Ottoman Empire. Up to 800 kitchen workers were responsible for catering to nearly 4.000 people. The kitchens included dormitories, baths, and a mosque for employees, but most of them zamunderstand it disappeared.

kubbealtä ±

Kubbealtı used to host Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn (Sultan's Council). Sadra in the period after Fatih Sultan Mehmedzam (or vizir-i âzam) would undertake the presidency of this court.

Treasury-ı Amire (Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn Treasure)

III. Since there is another "inner" treasure in the courtyard, the Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn Treasure is called the outer treasure. Don't zamAlthough the moment is not known, it is estimated that it was built at the end of the 15th century during the reign of Kanuni from the way it was built and its plans.

In the treasury, the financial management of the empire was made. Valuable caftans, jewelery and other gifts that financial managers would give to viziers, ambassadors, and court dwellers were kept here. The salaries that the janissaries received quarterly, were called here. 4 years after Topkapı Palace was turned into a museum (1928), the weapons and armor collection of Topkapı Palace are exhibited in this building.

In the archaeological work carried out in 1937, a 5th-century basilica is located in front of the building. This basilica is known as the "Palace Basilica" because it cannot be matched with other churches that were unearthed.