Topkapi Palace: Quintessence of Ottoman Palatial Architecture

Sultan Mehmed II ordered construction of the Topkapi Palace a few years after ousting the city’s Byzantine regime. Taking advantage of its prestige and high ground, he set the location on the Byzantine acropolis, overlooking the Bosphorus and within walking distance of the other great marker of imperial majesty, the newly-Islamisized Hagia Sofia.

The palace is laid out in a series of three courtyards that take the visitor from semi-public to less public to private levels of access and prestige. A beautiful and elaborate fountain surrounded by a sort of house structure precedes the gate to the first courtyard. Built in the 17^th century (or was it 18^th?), it shows an awareness of European baroque aesthetic as well as decorative poems, which reflect the increasingly public character of poetic discourse during that period.

The approach to the first courtyard is a majestic straight avenue surrounded by formal gardens, most notably a line of tall Cypress trees on either side of the broad path. Barbara Petzen reminded us of the romantic feminine symbolism of these trees. I thought also of Heath W. Lowry’s In the Footsteps of the Ottomans, A Search for Sacred Spaces ad Architectural Monuments in Northern Greece (Bahcesehir University Press, 2009), which discusses many instances of tree cults centered around Cypress trees. I do not assume that there was a cult of trees taking place at a conscious level, but it seems possible that this association could have been in people’s minds as these gardens were designed.

Barbara also commented on the large number of servants who worked in the palace---cooks, serving maids, pages, artisans, and groundskeepers of various levels within the servant hierarchy. The palace was a site of tasks and dramas both humble and elite.

The Harem is the inner most court, the most private and exclusive area. Eunuchs, young princes, women in waiting, concubines, and the Valide Sutan (the mother of the reigning sultan and most important denizen of the harem) all lived in these rooms. It was the experience of a lifetime, made all the more thrilling because there were so few other tourists present. The most striking visual feature of the Harem is the lavish decoration of tiles, paint, and inlay on walls, doors, and ceilings. Iznik tiles cover the walls. I noticed cypress trees in several locations, echoing the trees in the park and also referencing the female symbolism. The blue “evil eyes” were in evidence as were many vines and flowers arranged in curvilinear shapes that suggested peacock tails, vases, and bouquets.

The room of the Valide Sultan and the Sultan’s Imperial room were the biggest spaces. The latter contained two pieces of furniture that I think were sofa-thrones with decorative pillar-like columns marking the corners. The size of these rooms reflects the power of the Sultan and his mother.

The costume collection showed many kaftans of Sultans, with voluminous legs and sleeves. Some were of simple white; others were elaborately embroidered. The large size of garments, like turbans, show the power of the Sultan and his wealth rather than the size of actual bodies. I especially liked a small kaftan with many embroidered marks, including Koranic phrases in Arabic and symbols from numerology, which were believed to have protective power over the wearer.

Begun in 1465 and used until 1856, Topkapi received many alterations and elaborations from each succeeding Sultan and his court. However, the basic framework of thee courtyards and a high view of the Bosphorus steadily maintained the hierarchical relationships among the players in court politics and between the court and the outside world.

The beauty of this palace is as much in its proportions and its relationship to the gardens and the Bosphorus as it is in its decorations. The open pathways from one gate to another, the grand doorways or portals to courtyards, and the intensification of interior decoration that the viewer experiences after entering each successive building has a rhythmic grace. Sultans generally learned an art such as calligraphy or gold smithery (Suleyman the Magnificent was a goldsmith), and this education may have contributed towards their interest in creating and sustaining such a beautiful palace. Moreover, as Walter Denny suggests in “The Palace, Power, and the Arts” from The Palace of Gold and Light: Treasures from the Topkapi, Istanbul, the construction of Topkapi did much to maintain the Sultan’s prestige and authority. Moreover, the palace’s enormous consumption of jewels, silks, and other luxuries contributed significantly to the economy of the Ottoman Empire.

Topkapi has a deep beauty that I think is founded on lucid, clear lines and big rich swaths of green grass and blue tiles.

Unfortunately, my camera became dysfunctional shortly after I entered the gate, so these images are from Wikimedia Commons: