The Topkapi Palace, with the Basketmaker's Kiosk in the front, seen from the Bosphorus sound.
Topkapi Palace Topkapi is a very large historical palace, home to many of the sultans of the Ottoman empire for about 400 years. It is situated on the promontory Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu) in the old town/Sultanahmet, overlooking the Bosphous, the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara and the Asian side. It is huge in size and consist of several palaces, each carefully decorated. Inside the palaces you can find historically important personal belongings from religiously important persons, including Muhammed's cloak and sword! Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take pictures of some of the interiors and antique belongings. There are nice views over Istanbul and the water from the palace's terrace. Topkapi is part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. The palace includes 4 courtyards, a small park a and a harem. The hilly Gülhane Park is situated right next to the palace. The surrounding walls are 1400m in length. At its peak, Topkapi was home to about 4000 people, containing mosques, a hospital, bakeries and a mint. Sultan Mehmed II (then in Byzantine Constantinopel) ordered the construction, that begun in 1459. Later on, activity was moved to other palaces, and in 1924 it became a musuem of the imperial era. It contains advanced Ottoman architecture as well as many interesting objects.
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| TOPKAPI: |
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| Model of Topkapi | Model of Topkapi |
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| The Gate of Felicity (Babüssaade) | The Gate of Felicity |
Paintings, Gate of Felicity |
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| The Conqueror's Pavilion | Topkapi |
| THE TERRACE AND ITS VIEWS: |
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| The dome and a seaplane | The Asian side and the Sea of Marmara |
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| The terrace | Asian and European side, the Bosphorus |
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| Üsküdar skyline, Asian side | Princes Islands, popular but relaxed |
Residential buildings and masts, Asia |
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| Part of the wall at Topkapi, in front of Topkapi |
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| Karaköy and Galata Tower |
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| the Baghdad Pavilion |
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| Pavilion for Breaking fast |
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| Shadow patterns of Topkapi |
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| Imperial Council Hall |
| RESTAURANT: |
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THE HAREM: The harem occupies one of the larger sections of the sultan's apartments in Topkapi Palace, totally it encompassed more then 400 rooms. The Queen Mother ruled the harem. The concubines and the eunuchs were often captured at war, many in Africa. |
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| Eunuchs in the harem |
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| The harem |
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| The harem |
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| The courtyard |
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| The Privy Chamber of Sultan Murad III |
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| The Privy Chamber of Sultan Murad III |
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| The Privy Chamber of Sultan Ahmed I |
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| View towards modern Istanbul |
| THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM: |
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The Gate of Salutation, the main entrance to the Topkapi complex with its sharp medieval towers. Accessed from a park in front of the palace
The Audience Hall
A tall tree in front of Europe/Asia, on top of the restaurant
Interesting pavilions
The entrance to the Harem of the sultans, a separate part of Topkapi that has a special entrance fee.
The Hall with Fountainwas renovated after the Harem fire in 1666. It was and entrance hall to the harem, guarded by eunuchs.
The Harem's courtyard.
Beautiful blue and yellow stained-glass windows.
We didn't visit the Archaeological Museums, but we passed by it on the way to Topkapi. Inside it featueres part of the gate of Ishtar from Babylon (just like the Pergamon Museum in Berlin).
