A harem and a saucepan (Topkapi Palace)

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Topkapi Palace
Date:	11/06/01 (119 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Outstanding architecture, Harem is very impressive, Pieces of the prophet Mohammed

Disadvantages: Unbelievable crowds, Relatively expensive

The Topkapi Palace located at the extreme tip of the south-western peninsula of Istanbul was the principal residence for the Sultans of Istanbul from its construction in the 15th century, through to 1853. It's an essential part of a visit to Istanbul, and boasts some of the most impressive Ottoman architecture in the city. It also gets absurdly crowded, detracting more significantly from my enjoyment of the palace than the crowds at any of the other tourist attractions I visited in Istanbul.

HISTORY

Topkapi Palace was constructed between 1459 and 1465 by Sultan Mehmet II, shortly after his conquest of the city of Constantinople. The palace consists of several pavilions, contained by four courtyards, reminiscent of the structure of tented Ottoman encampments.

For a century or so, the palace housed the Ottoman government, but in the 16th century, the government was moved out to Sublime Porte, located just outside the outer wall of the First Courtyard.

In 1853, Sultan Abdul Mecit I abandoned Topkapi in favour of the Dolmabache Palace, a short way up the Bosphorus. In 1924, the Palace was opened to the public as a museum.

FIRST COURTYARD

The first courtyard of the palace covers a large area, and encompasses the Imperial Mint (now housing exhibitions on the history of Istanbul), the city's archaeological museum, and Haghia Eirene, an old Byzantine church, dating back to the 6th century.

You can walk through the first courtyard free of charge, and surprisingly, the courtyard remains relatively free of street vendors. There are several small kiosks selling drinks and ice creams, and the tree-lined paths and green spaces of the first courtyard provide a nice place to relax.

To proceed further into the palace complex, you have to buy a ticket from the ticket office, in front of the elaborate Gate of Salutations. This Gate is very imposing, looking out imperiously over the approach road. Tickets f
or admission to the rest of the palace cost a substantial 7,000,000 Turkish lira (about £4.50) for adults. Admission to the harem incurs a further cost, and I'll go into this in the relevant section.

SECOND COURTYARD

Entering the second courtyard of the Topkapi palace is a bit of a chore. Just beyond the Gate of Salutations, you have to go through a security check, with all of your bags and your camera going through an X-ray machine. When I visited in May 2001, the palace was going through a modernisation procedure which will ensure that you only have to carry one ticket around the palace, and to gain admission to each section, you simply need to insert the bar-coded end of the ticket into various readers around the palace. At present, however, you get a pair of tickets and the bar-code readers weren't operational, so someone had to check the tickets by hand.

On the east side of the second courtyard, are the palace kitchens, which have a series of large chimneyed domes on the ceiling, and contain an exhibition of Chinese ceramics ? reportedly the finest collection of Chinese porcelain outside of China itself. The palace's collection of Turkish and European glass and silverware are also on display in the kitchens.

In the north-western corner of the second courtyard is the impressive exhibition of arms and armour from around Europe. There is a superb collection of formidable weaponry here, some of which has clearly seen much action, and some of which is purely ceremonial. Several swords belonging to Ottoman Sultans are on display, many of which have been intricately engraved with Arabic script. Some of the bows on display in the exhibition were made by Sultans themselves, and it's interesting to see how the shapes of the bows differ from European designs. Ottoman bows seem to curve more sharply in on themselves, producing a shape more like the letter "C" than the western European bracket shape "{"
. There are several huge Crusaders' swords on display, which look absurdly crude, and ridiculously sized next to the Ottoman swords.

Beside the exhibition of arms and armour is the Divan, where the viziers of the imperial council would meet. Within the Divan, you can see the window through which the Sultan could choose to watch the viziers' meetings covertly. The outside of the Divan has a truly impressive canopy, which has been beautifully painted with intricate designs using gold paint.

Just next to the Divan, on the west side of the second courtyard, is the entrance to the Harem, and the ticket booth which sells tickets for the Harem tour.

HAREM

Tickets for the Harem tour go on sale fifteen minutes before each tour, and are sold until all of the places on the next tour have been filled. The ticket booth then closes until fifteen minutes before the next tour. It's worth getting there as early as possible, because coach parties will often buy up most of the places on individual tours. The first tour runs at 10am, and then at half-hourly intervals after this, until 4pm. Tickets cost 4,000,000 Turkish lira (about £2.50) for adults.

There are sixty people in each tour, though once you've been admitted to the Harem, there's no obligation to go around in the main group. My advice is to hang back, and let the rest of the tour rush ahead of you. There is a guard who will follow the end of the group and ensure you take the right path around the Harem, but they're very unlikely to do much to encourage you to hurry around the tour, so take your time. If you've got a guide book, such as the excellent Dorling Kindersley guide to the city, you'll glean about as much information as you would from the guide anyway.

The word 'Harem' comes from the Arabic for "forbidden", and was the residence for the sultan's many wives, concubines and children, who were guarded by black sla
ve eunuchs. The Topkapi Harem was designed by Sultan Murat III in the late 16th century, and is a veritable labyrinth of twisting corridors. The Harem also boasts some of the most impressive chambers and architecture in the Topkapi Palace, and is easily the most interesting part of the palace complex.

You enter the Harem through the courtyard of the Black Eunuchs, which lined with some incredibly beautiful blue and white tiling. From here, you pass through the courtyard of the concubines, and then through the chambers of the Valide Sultan (sultan's mother). Passing through the sultan's ornate bathroom, filled with its marble basins and gold fixtures, you enter the showy Imperial Hall, the largest room in the Harem. Some of the other rooms in this area of the Harem are truly amazing, with even more beautiful tilework, and some beautiful stained glass windows. The Paired pavilions, a pair of rooms built in the 17th century for the crown prince, are particularly impressive.

From the Paired pavilions, you enter the courtyard of the favourites ? with a series of rooms belonging to the sultan's favourite wives and concubines looking out over the courtyard, and beyond to the Golden Horn. Leaving the Harem takes you out into the third courtyard.

THIRD COURTYARD

On the south side of the third courtyard is the palace throne room, which is not open to the public. Neither is the Library of Ahmet III, which is in the middle of the third courtyard. On the east side of the third courtyard can be found the palace's treasury and exhibition of imperial costumes. The treasury wasn't open when I visited the Topkapi Palace, but guidebooks claim it contains an outstanding collection of bejewelled treasures which once belonged to the sultans and viziers of the Topkapi.

On the north side of the third courtyard are the exhibition of clocks and the exhibition of miniatures and manuscripts, neither of which were open when I vis
ited the palace.

In the north-western corner of the third courtyard is the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle, which holds an astonishing collection of some of the holiest relics in Islam. Many of these relics found their way to Istanbul thanks to the conquests of Egypt and Arabia by Sultan Selim the Grim. In the first room is a series of ornate locks and doors which were sent to the Ka'aba in Mecca, by successive Sultans. Off this room is a room containing a numerous important religious artifacts, including the turban of the prophet Yusuf, Moses's staff, a letter from the prophet Mohammed to a false prophet, and (most amusingly) the saucepan of the prophet Ibrahim.

Another room in the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle holds the most sacred holy relics, however ? those belonging to the Prophet Mohammed. Night and day, holy men chant passages from the Koran in a small booth in the corner of the room. One display cabinet holds pieces of Mohammed's hair and beard, and another holds his footprint. However, the most important of the relics is a mantle, reportedly worn by Mohammed, which is kept in a gold chest in an anteroom that cannot be entered by visitors. You can look at it through the doorway, though, as well as a couple of Mohammed's swords.

FOURTH COURTYARD

The fourth courtyard offers the most impressive views from the Topkapi Palace. To the west side are the Iftariye and Baghdad Pavilions, from which you get outstanding views down onto the Golden Horn, and across to Beyoglu, as well as west along the coast towards the New Mosque. The Baghdad Pavilion is acknowledged as one of the finest examples of tilework within the palace, and was constructed to celebrate Murat IV's capture of Baghdad in 1639. It also boasts some impressive inlay work on its wooden fittings, with pieces of ivory, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl.

On the east side of the fourth courtyard, down some stairs, are the palace's restaurants. T
here are three restaurants, one of which is exclusively for large coach parties. The Konyali restaurant is an exceptionally expensive waiter-service place, beside which is a perfectly pleasant (and more importantly, cheaper) self-service restaurant.

ADVICE

It is truly imperative that you get to the Topkapi Palace as early in the day as you can possibly manage, so that you can get there before the coach parties do. I insured that I reached the Palace at about 9am, when it opened, and after a quick look round, queued up for the Harem tickets at about 9.30am.

By the time I finished touring the Harem, at about 10.40am, the palace was absolutely heaving with crowds of tourists. To see anything in the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle involved shuffling along with the hordes of pilgrims. The Palace becomes so unbelievably crowded after about 10am that it ceases to be any fun to actually tour it, so my advice is to see everything you want to see as early as you possibly can. Even trying to get out of the Palace is a hassle, as everyone has to queue up to go through a narrow corridor.

CONCLUSIONS

The Topkapi Palace is another essential place for tourists visiting Istanbul, particularly the stunningly impressive Harem, even though it costs a bit more to go round. The Palace does, however, get incredibly crowded, despite its size, so you really must get there as early in the day as you possibly can, otherwise, you're not going to enjoy it much. At least the Harem only has a maximum of sixty people in it at any one time!

Summary: