Travel-World Photography
Topkapi Palace it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.
The Palace consists of a number of assembly halls, halls for receiving dignitaries, plus a large number of other rooms. Almost all room surfaces are decorated with elaborate patterns, as well as a high number of beautiful ceramic tile mosaics.
Topkapi Palace and Harem are likely to have more colorful stories than most of the world's museums put together. Libidinous sultans, ambitious courtiers, beautiful concubines and scheming eunuchs lived and worked here between the 15th and 19th centuries when it was the court of the Ottoman empire. A visit to the palace's opulent pavilions, jewel-filled Treasury and sprawling Harem gives a fascinating glimpse into their lives.
Mehmet the Conqueror built the first stage of the palace shortly after the Conquest in 1453. Subsequent sultans lived in this rarefied environment until the 19th century.
The entrance to the Harem is beneath the Tower of Justice. As popular belief would have it, the Harem was a place where the sultan could engage in debauchery at will. In more prosaic reality, these were the imperial family quarters, and every detail of Harem life was governed by tradition, obligation and ceremony. The word 'harem' literally means 'forbidden' or 'private'. The sultans supported as many as 300 concubines in the Harem, The sultan was allowed by Islamic law to have four legitimate wives.
