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The Topkapı Palace (Turkish: Topkapı Sarayı;Ottoman Turkish: طوپقپو سرايى, romanized: ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit. 'cannon gate palace'),[3] or the Seraglio,[4] is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.

Construction, ordered by the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, began in 1459, six years after the conquest of Constantinople. Topkapı was originally called the "New Palace" (Yeni Saray or Saray-ı Cedîd-i Âmire) to distinguish it from the Old Palace (Eski Saray or Sarây-ı Atîk-i Âmire) in Beyazıt Square. It was given the name Topkapı, meaning Cannon Gate, in the 19th century.[5] The complex expanded over the centuries, with major renovations after the 1509 earthquake and the 1665 fire. The palace complex consists of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. Female members of the Sultan's family lived in the harem, and leading state officials, including the Grand Vizier, held meetings in the Imperial Council building.

After the 17th century, Topkapı gradually lost its importance. The sultans of that period preferred to spend more time in their new palaces along the Bosphorus.[citation needed] In 1856 Sultan Abdulmejid I decided to move the court to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace. Topkapı retained some of its functions, including the imperial treasury, library and mint.

After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, a government decree dated April 3, 1924 transformed Topkapı into a museum. Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism now administers the Topkapı Palace Museum. The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public as of 2020, including the Ottoman Imperial Harem and the treasury, called hazine where the Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Topkapi Dagger are on display. The museum collection also includes Ottoman clothing, weapons, armor, miniatures, religious relics, and illuminated manuscripts such as the Topkapi manuscript. Officials of the ministry as well as armed guards of the Turkish military guard the complex. The Topkapı Palace forms a part the Historic Areas of Istanbul, a group of sites in Istanbul that UNESCO recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1985.

Name

The name of the palace was Saray-i Cedid-i Amire (Ottoman: سراى جديد عامره, Imperial New Palace) until the 18th century The palace received its current name during Mahmud I's reign; when Topkapusu Sâhil Sarâyı, the seaside palace, was destroyed in a fire its name was transferred to the palace.[8] In Turkish the current name of the palace, Topkapı, means Cannon Gate.[9][better source needed]

History

The palace complex is located on the Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu), a promontory overlooking the Golden Horn, where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Marmara Sea. The terrain is hilly and the palace itself is located at one of the highest points close to the sea. During Greek and Byzantine times, the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Byzantion stood here.[citation needed]

After Sultan Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople (known since 1930 in English as Istanbul) in 1453, the Great Palace of Constantinople was largely in ruins.[10] The Ottoman court was initially set up in the Old Palace (Eski Saray), today the site of Istanbul University in Beyazit Square. Mehmed II ordered that construction of Topkapı Palace begin in 1459. According to an account of the contemporary historian Critobulus of Imbros the sultan "took care to summon the very best workmen from everywhere – masons and stonecutters and carpenters ... For he was constructing great edifices which were to be worth seeing and should in every respect vie with the greatest and best of the past. Accounts differ as to when construction of the inner core of the palace started and was finished. Critobulus gives the dates 1459–1465; other sources suggest construction was completed in the late 1460s.

Mehmed II established the basic layout of the palace. His private quarters would be located at the highest point of the promontory. Various buildings and pavilions surrounded the innermost core and winded down the promontory towards the shores of the Bosphorus.[citation needed] The entire complex was surrounded by high walls, some of which date back to the Byzantine acropolis.

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