Topkapi Palace (Topkapi Sarsyi) is one of the biggest attractions of Istanbul and one of the most visited museums in Turkey. For 400 years the palace was the center of government of the Ottoman state, one of three biggest empires of the world.
In 1453, after the conquest of Istanbul by the Turks, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed, who lived in a small palace not far from the present Kapalycharshy, ordered to build huge buildings of the Topkapi Palace based on the remains of a Roman town. In the following centuries, until the late 19th century the palace was constantly rebuilt and its premises enriched. The original name of the palace was "Sarah-i-Jadid-e-Amir".
In 1856, after completion of the Dolmabahce Palace, Topkapi Palace was given as a residence to the wives of deposed or deceased padishahs. In 1923, with the establishment of the republic, Topkapi Palace like all other palaces was declared a museum by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the famous founder of the modern Turkish state. The Topkapi Palace Museum collection, along with collections of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty and the dynasties of Russian tsars is considered as one of the three rarest collections in the world. The number of items in the collection exceeds 65,000, but the exhibition only displays a tenth of the entire collection because of lack of staff and small exhibition halls. Fires (16th century) and earthquakes destroyed major parts of the palace. The palace had gone through several renovations. Due to this, between the 15th and 19th centuries the architectural styles of the palace have acquired some eclectic features.
At the front gate of the Palace of Topkapi, known as the "Bab and Humayun", there is a monumental building of the fountain built by padishah Ahmed III in 1728. The "Brilliant Gates" were built by an order of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (Fatih) in 1478. Entering this gate, you will see a spacious and rather long building of the "the first court" of the palace. On the right side of this courtyard you can see the gendarmerie headquarters, offices and residential premises of the palace, the palace mosque and the ruins of the bakery. Right behind these ruins you will see a picturesque panorama of the Marmara Sea. On the left, you find the church of St. Irene, the ancient mint of the Ottoman period, as well as the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
After going through "the first court" you will come to the doors of the second main gate "Bab-Salaam". This is the beginning of the museum exhibition. The gate was built during the rule of Sultan Mehmed II, and had a second name, the so-called 'middle gate'. The left tower served as prison for high ranking officials. Through the gate of Bab-Salaam you walk into the courtyard decorated with a garden with century-old evergreen cypresses and plane trees. The second courtyard of the palace was closed to everybody but foreign visitors and the members of Divan (Supreme council). The garden was looked after by numerous servants and had gazelles, peacocks and other exotic animals, creating an atmosphere of paradise.
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