OTTOMAN IMPERIAL OPULENCE IN TOPKAPI PALACE
I wrote about the harem in my previous post. In my opinion, the imperial harem is the best and most fascinating part of the palace.
In this post I will present some beautiful images that I captured during my visit. As you will see, the palace was decorated with a considerable effort, mostly for the benefit of the members of the Ottoman dynasty.
The Topkapi Palace consists of four separate courtyards. The first courtyard was for people who conducted everyday business with the palace. It was much more difficult to access the second courtyard. That’s where the Imperial Council Hall is, where they conducted the government business.
The third and especially the fourth courtyard were exclusively for members of the Ottoman dynasty. The Ottoman imperial opulence is the most evident in the fourth courtyard, which is also the most lavishly decorated part of the palace.
IMPERIAL COUNCIL HALL (Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn)
The second courtyard is the entrance to the museum and it contains various interesting and important structures. The most impressive is the Imperial Council Hall.
Fatih Sultan Mehmed built the first council hall at the same time when he built the whole palace. However, the chief imperial architect, Alaüddin, rebuilt it between 1527 and 1529, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.
The chamber’s current look with the golden gilded latticework and Rococo doors is from 1792, after the renovation during the reign of Sultan Selim III.
Finally, Sultan Mahmud II reconstructed the façade of the structure in 1819.
The Imperial Council had three divisions: Kubbealti, where they discussed the state affairs, Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn kalemleri, where they recorded the state proceedings and Defterharne, an archive for council books and documents.
The Council met four times per week. It included the Grand Vizier, Kubbealti viziers and Anatolian and Rumelian judges of the army. When invited, Sheikh al-Islam also attended important meetings.
Additionally, the Grand Vizier received messengers in the Imperial Council Hall.
The sultan did not take part in the meetings. He watched and listened from behind the window that you can see in the photo above. If members of the council took a wrong decision, the sultan would terminate the meeting by shutting the window.
When that happened, the Grand Vizier and other viziers would swiftly move to the Audience Chamber and appear in front of the sultan, in order to resolve the matter.
Kubbealti contains decorative elements that symbolise justice of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, the outwards facing gilded latticework represented the Council’s transparent decisions. Or, the sultan’s window, from where he watched the meetings, represented his personal assurance against injustice towards his subjects.
SULTAN AHMED III FOUNTAIN
A fountain in the photo below is in the third courtyard and it decorates the front façade of the Sultan Ahmed III’s library.
REVAN KIOSK
The Revan Kiosk was built in honour of Sultan Murad IV’s victory at the city of Yerevan in 1635-1636. The kiosk is also known as the “turban room”, because that was where the sultans stored their turbans.
A beautiful fountain in the photo below is close to the Reven Kiosk.
Images that follow are the external decoration in the fourth courtyard of the palace.
Actually, it’s one long wall but, as you can see, they decorated different sections of the wall with a different design.
I’m sure that you will agree with me that the result is very beautiful. It’s here, in this part of the palace, that the Ottoman imperial opulence is the most evident.
The effect is captivating and it’s certainly far more effective than having just one monotonous image. In my opinion, together with the harem and the Imperial Council Hall, this really is the most beautiful part of the palace.
BAGHDAD KIOSK
The Baghdad Kiosk was built in 1639, in honour of Sultan Murad IV’s victory during the Baghdad campaign. The kiosk is one of the last examples of the classical Ottoman palatial architecture.
The kiosk served as a private library of the sultan. Because it was used by the sultan and his family, it was lavishly decorated with Iznik tiles.
Similarly to the Forbidden City in Beijing, ordinary people could not easily enter Topkapi palace. They could certainly never enter its third and fourth courtyards, where members of the Ottoman dynasty spent most of their time.
But we can now visit the whole palace. We can also see and enjoy in the Ottoman imperial opulence, exactly the same as the Ottoman ruling family did over many past centuries.
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