An American in Turkey

Topkapı Sarayı was the Imperial Palace of the Ottoman Empire for close to 400 years until the construction of Dolmabahçe Sarayı in the 18th century. It translates literally to “Palace of the Cannon Gate” it is positioned directly north of Ayasofya exactly where the Bosphorus meets the Golden Horn. It is hard to compare to other Imperial Palaces, such as Buckingham or even the White House. Its grounds are surely bigger than both, spanning three giant courtyards that are surrounded by buildings which today house many of the artifacts of the Ottoman Empire. The rooms are small and (the functional ones at least) are plainly decorated with divan couches on the outer walls and classic Ottoman tiles on the walls (mostly from Iznik). Perhaps the most exciting of these rooms was the imperial council or Divan. This neo-cabinet is not impressive in size, probably half the size of the cabinet in the White House, was the most powerful room in the world for almost 400 years. In the room there was no table, no throne, simple the couches were the sultan would sit with his grand vizier and other bureaucrats on a level playing field. While this seems odd it makes some sense, while the Ottoman emperor had an up or down vote on pretty much everything going on in the empire, he formed none of the policy and usually knew relatively little about what was going on outside the walls of the palace and therefore hardly excerised his up or down privelige. This put the much more talented (and qualified) grand viziers at the top of the political food chain.

The other main attraction of Topkapı is the treasury and reliquaries. The second courtyard houses both the wealth and the legitmacy of the empire. The current treasury exhibit houses a collection of jewels that vastly surpasses that which is housed in the Tower of London (trust me I've seen both). It is odd that a Muslim empire would pride itself on such vast quantities of jewelry and such, but when you think about it the treasury worked to legitimize the Ottomans in the face of the Western Empires, who placed a much higher value on such wealth. In this Palace that stands on the edge of east and west this portion certainly diisplays itself to the west.

The counterpart to the Treasury is the Muslim reliquary room. As protector of the caliphate (a nominal title that may or may not have been properly passed to the Ottomans) and protector of the Holy Cities, the Ottoman Empire holds in Topkapı many import Muslim artifacts. They include the sword of Muhammad and the four rightly guided caliphs as well as a letter written by the Prophet and reliquaries of his hair, teeth and dust from his tomb. This collection was made to legitimize the Turks in the eyes of its muslim counterparts to the East.

More on Ayasofya coming soon.

A note on pictures, I will try to post a bunch on Facebook soon so if you are on facebook, you don't have to email me in order to see my collection.