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ALL TURKEY TOURS |
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INFORMATION |
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TOPKAPI PALACE;
The Topkapi Palace was the second palace in
Istanbul after the conquest. The first was in the Bayezit
area and it was called the Old Palace after the construction
of Topkapi. Called the New Palace initially it was named as
the Topkapi Palace after a summer palace near the sea at
Sarayburnu in the 19C.
The construction of the Topkapi Palace, including the walls,
was completed between 1465 and 1478. However, different
sultans having ascended to the throne added parts to the
palace which now gives the appearance of a lack of unity and
style. The changes were made for reasons of practicality, to
commemorate victorious campaigns or to repair damage caused
by earthquakes and fire. The Topkapi Palace had never been
static but was always in the process of organic development
with the influences of the time. The first of these
influences was the parallelism between the palace and the
empire. As the empire became larger, the palace was likewise
enlarged. The second is that as the sultans felt insecure
and withdrew themselves behind the walls removed from
nature, there was an attempt to bring nature inside the
walls in the form of miniatures, tiles and suchlike . If
late Ottoman period palaces are excluded, only the Topkapi
Palace survived from the glory days of the great Ottoman
Empire, which implies that palaces for the Ottomans were
something different than the ones we know today. There is a
kind of humble simplicity and practicality in the Ottoman
palaces.
The Topkapi Sarayi was a city-palace with a population of
approximately 4,000 people. It covers an area of 70 hectares
/ 173 acres. It housed all the Ottoman sultans from Sultan
Mehmet II to Abdulmecit, nearly 400 years and 25 sultans. In
1924 it was made into a museum.
The palace was mainly divided into two sections, Birun and
Enderun. Birun was the outer palace and Enderun the inner.
Out of four consecutive courtyards of the palace the first
two are Birun. Enderun, the inner palace, consisted of the
third and fourth courtyards with the harem.
The first courtyard which was open to the public started
after the Bab-i Humayun (Imperial Gate). This was the
service area of the palace consisting of a hospital (with a
capacity of 120 beds), a bakery, an arsenal, the mint,
storage places for various things and some dormitories. This
courtyard acted something like a city center.
Topkapi Palace, as well as being the imperial residence of
the sultan, his court and harem, was also the seat of
government for the Ottoman Empire, Divan. The second
courtyard, also called Alay Meydani (Procession Square),
which started after the Babusselam (Gate of Peace), was the
seat of the Divan and open to anyone who had business with
the Divan. This was the administration center. The Divan met
four times a week. In the earlier years the sultan would be
present at these council meetings, but later on, he would
sit behind a latticed grille placed in the wall and listen
to the proceedings from there. The Council never knew
whether or not the sultan was actually present and listening
to them unless he decided to speak himself. The Divan
consisted of two rooms: the Office of the Grand Vizier and
the Public Records Office, the Tower of Justice.
In addition to the Divan there were also the privy stables
and kitchens. The kitchens consist of a series of ten large
rooms with domes and dome-like chimneys. In these kitchens
in those times they cooked for about 4,000 people. The
kitchens were used separately for different people, because
different dishes for different classes had to be prepared.
In the kitchens today, a collection of Chinese Porcelain
which are accepted as the third most valuable in the world,
are on display together with authentic kitchen utensils as
well as both Turkish and Japanese Porcelain.
Just before entering the third courtyard, in front of the
third gate, the Babussaade (Gate of Felicity) or the
Akagalar (White Eunuchs) Gate is the place where the throne
was placed for all kinds of occasions, such as religious
holidays, welcoming foreign ambassadors and funerals.
Payment of the Yeniceri salaries took place there too as
well as the handing over of the sancak, the standard or the
flag of the Caliph by the sultan.
The Enderun, inner palace, started after the Babussaade and
was surrounded by the quarters of the inner palace boys who
were in service to the sultan and the palace. The first
building after entering into the third courtyard is Arz
Odasi, the Audience Hall. Many important ceremonies also
took place there. Foreign ambassadors and results of Divan
meetings were presented to the sultan in this chamber.
In the middle of the courtyard is the library of Sultan
Ahmet III. On the right is a section in
which sultans' costumes are shown. Next to this is the
treasury section where many precious objects are displayed.
Among these the Kasikci Diamond (the Spoonmaker's Diamond)
and the Topkapi Hanceri (the Topkapi Dagger) are the most
precious. The Kasikci Diamond is 86 carats, "drop-shaped",
faceted and surrounded by 49 large diamonds. The Topkapi
Dagger, a beautiful dagger ornamented with valuable emerald
pieces was planned to be sent to Nadir Shah of Iran as a
present, but when it was on the way it was heard that Nadir
had been assassinated and so it was taken back to the palace
treasury. Relics including a hand, arm and skull bones
belonging to John the Baptist are also on display in the
treasury section.
From the right-hand corner to the left in this courtyard are
the sections of miniatures, calligraphy, portraits of
sultans, clocks and holy relics of Islam. The holy relics
are personal belongings of the Prophet Mohammed (a mantle,
sword, seal, tooth, beard and footprints) and Caliphs, Koran
scripts, religious books and framed inscriptions.
In the fourth courtyard there are pavilions some facing the
Marmara Sea and others facing the Golden Horn.
Life at the Court
The focal point of the court was the sultan, of course. The
sultan's daily life was very simple. In addition to daily
regular activities, sultans, in order to broaden their
perspectives, gathered scholars, poets, artists and
historians at the palace. Most of the sultans in the Ottoman
Empire united many skills in themselves. They commissioned
new works, manuscripts and bindings, were ardent readers,
competent calligraphers, poets, archers, riders, cirit
(javelin) players, hunters, composers, etc.
In daily life at the palace, silence was dominant. Hundreds
of people tried not to meet the sultan unless they needed to
and in keeping voices down, it was even said that, people of
the court sometimes developed a body language system among
themselves.
The Harem
The concept of the harem has provoked much speculation.
Curiosity about the unknown and inaccessible inspired highly
imaginative literature among the people of the western
world. People always basically thought that in a harem there
were hundreds of beautiful girls and a sultan who had fun
with all of them. This is generally not correct as the
sultan could not, perhaps unfortunately for him, just leap
into a roomful of beauties and have his way. There were
certain rules with life in the Harem.
The word harem which in Arabic means "forbidden" refers to
the private sector of a Moslem household in which women live
and work; the term is also used for women dwelling there. In
traditional Moslem society the privacy of the household was
universally observed and respectable women did not socialize
with men to whom they were not married or related. Because
the establishment of a formal harem was an expense beyond
the means of the poor, the practice was limited to elite
groups, usually in urban settings. Since Islamic law allowed
Moslems to have a maximum of four wives, in a harem there
would be up to four wives and numerous concubines and
servants. Having a harem, in general, was traditionally a
mark of wealth and power. Though the women of the harems
might never leave its confines, their influence was
frequently of key importance to political and economic
affairs of the household, with each woman seeking to promote
the interests of her own children.
The most famous harems were those of the sultans of the
Ottoman Empire. The harems of the Ottoman Turkish rulers
were elaborate structures concealed behind palace walls, in
which lived hundreds of women who were married, related to,
or owned by the head of the household.
The Harem of the Sultan
The idea of the harem came to the Ottoman sultans from the
Byzantines. Before coming to Anatolia, Turks did not have
harems. After the conquest of Istanbul, sultans built the
Topkapi Palace step by step. Parallel to it, a harem was
also begun. Eventually it became a big complex consisting of
a few hundred rooms. The harem was not just a prison full of
women kept for the sultan's pleasure. It was his family
quarters. Security in the harem was provided by black
eunuchs. Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) was the head of the
harem. She had enormous influence on everything that took
place there and frequently on her son too.
Young and beautiful girls of the harem were either purchased
by the palace or presented to the sultan as gifts from
dignitaries or sultan's family. When these girls entered the
harem, they were thoroughly assessed.
Among the girls there were mainly four different classes:
Odalik (servant), Gedikli (sultan's personal servants; there
were only twelve of them), Ikbal or Gozde (those were
Favorites who are said to have had affairs with the sultan),
Kadin or Haseki Sultan (wives giving children to the
sultan). When the Haseki Sultan's son ascended to the
throne, she was promoted to Valide Sultan. She was the most
important woman. After her, in order of importance came the
sultan's daughters. Then came the first four wives of the
sultan who gave birth to children. Their degree of
importance was in the order in which their sons were born.
They had conjugal rights and if the sultan did not sleep
with them on two consecutive Friday nights, they could
consider themselves divorced. They had their own apartments.
The Favorites also had their own apartments. But others
slept in dormitories.
Girls were trained according to their talents in playing a
musical instrument, singing, dancing, writing, embroidery
and sewing. Many parents longed for their daughters to be
chosen for the Harem.
It should not be thought that women never went out. They
could visit their families or just go for drives in covered
carriages from which they could see out behind the veils and
curtained windows. They could also organize parties up on
the Bosphorus or along the Golden Horn.
Kizlar Agasi (Chief Black Eunuch) had the biggest
responsibility and was the only one who knew all the secret
desires of the sultan. Eunuchs, owing to different methods
used for castration, were checked regularly by doctors to
make sure they remained eunuchs.
When a sultan died, the new sultan would bring his new harem
which meant that the former harem was dispersed. Some were
sent to the old palace, some stayed as teachers or some
older ones were pensioned off.
Yeniceriler (Janissaries)
Janissaries (Turkish yeni is new and ceri is a soldier),
standing Ottoman Turkish army, were organized by Murat I.
Ottoman armies had previously been composed of Turkoman
tribal levies, who were loyal to their clan leaders, but as
the Ottoman polity acquired the characteristics of a state,
it became necessary to have paid troops loyal only to the
sultan. Therefore, the system of impressing Christian youths
(devsirme) was instituted and having been converted to Islam
and given the finest training, they became the elite of the
army. Special laws regulated their daily life cutting them
off from civil society such as being forbidden to marry.
Devotion to such discipline made the Janissaries the scourge
of Europe. These standards, however, changed with time;
recruitment became lax (Moslems were admitted, too) and
because of the privileges Janissaries enjoyed, their numbers
swelled from about 20,000 in 1574 to some 135,000 in 1826.
To supplement their salaries, the Janissaries began to
pursue various trades and established strong links with
civil society, thus undermining their loyalty to the ruler.
In time they became kingmakers and the allies of
conservative forces, opposing all reform and refusing to
allow the army to be modernized. When they revolted in 1826,
Sultan Mahmut II dissolved the corps by proclamation,
putting all opposition down by force. Thousands were killed
and others banished, but most were simply absorbed into the
general population.
Tugra (Monogram of a sultan)
Each sultan had a personal emblem called a tugra, a
calligraphic arrangement of the letters of his name and
titles. They were used at the top of imperial decrees or in
the inscriptions of buildings (gates, mosques, palaces,
fountains etc.).
Sultans and the Caliphate
The Caliphate is the office and realm of the caliph as
supreme leader of the Moslem community as successor of the
Prophet Mohammed. Under Mohammed the Moslem state was a
theocracy, with the Seriat, the religious and moral
principles of Islam, as the law of the land. The Caliphs,
Mohammed's successors, were both secular and religious
leaders. They were not empowered, however, to promulgate
dogma, because it was considered that the revelation of the
faith had been completed by Mohammed.
In 1517, when Sultan Selim I captured Cairo, he also added
the title of caliph to that of sultan. After that, all
Ottoman sultans automatically became caliphs when they
ascended to the throne.
The title held little significance for the Ottoman sultans
until their empire began to decline. In the 19C, with the
advent of Christian powers in the Near East, the sultan
began to emphasize his role as caliph in an effort to gain
the support of Moslems living outside his realm. The Ottoman
Empire collapsed during World War I. After the war, Turkish
nationalists deposed the sultan and the Caliphate was
finally abolished in 1924 by the Turkish Grand National
Assembly.
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