Istanbul Guide

68

LIFE IN THE CAGE

Important officials and foreign ambassadors were brought to this little kiosk to conduct the high busi ness of state. The sultan, seated on a huge divan, inspected the ambassador’s gifts and offerings as they were passed through the doorway on the left. Right behind the Audience Chamber is the pret ty Library of Ahmet III , built in 1719. Light-filled, it has comfortable reading areas and stunning in laid woodwork. On the eastern edge of the Third Court is the Dormitory of the Expeditionary Force , which now houses a rich collection of imperial robes, kaftans and uniforms worked in silver and gold thread. Also here is a fascinating collection of tal ismanic shirts, which were believed to protect the wearer from enemies and misfortunes of all kinds. Textile design reached its highest point during the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, when the imperial workshops produced cloth of exquisite design and work. Don’t miss Süleyman’s gorgeous silk kaftan with its appliquéd tulip design. On the other side of the Third Court are the Sacred Safekeeping Rooms . These rooms, sumptuously decorated with İ znik tiles, house many relics of the Prophet. When the sultans lived here, the rooms were opened only once a year, for the imperial family to pay homage to the memory of the Prophet on the 15th day of the holy month of Ramazan. An imam sometimes sits near the exit and recites from the Koran. Next to the sacred Safekeeping Rooms is the Dormitory of the Privy Chamber , which houses portraits of 36 sultans, from austere 17th- and 18th-century patriarchs to their later descendants. The highlight is Konstantin Kapidagli’s wonder ful painting of the Enthronement Ceremony of Sultan Selim III (1789) with its curving line of tur banned spectators. En route to the Fourth Court you will pass the Dormitory of the Treasury , which accommo dated the palace treasury’s many staff, who num bered over 150 by the 18th century. This houses an exhibition of Ottoman calligraphy by Kazasker Mustafa İ zzet Efendi (1801–76). Imperial Treasury Located on the eastern edge of the Third Court, Topkap ı ’s Treasury features an incredible col lection of objects made from or decorated with gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, jade, pearls and diamonds. The building itself was constructed during Mehmet the Conqueror’s reign in 1460 and was used originally as reception rooms.

In the early centuries of the empire, Ottoman princes were schooled as youths in combat and statecraft by direct experience. But as the Ottoman dynasty did not observe primo geniture (succession of the firstborn), the death of the sultan regularly resulted in a fratricidal bloodbath as his sons – often from different mothers – bat tled among themselves for the throne. This changed when Sultan Ahmet I (r 1603–20) couldn’t bring himself to murder his brother Mustafa and decided instead to keep him imprisoned in Topkap ı ’s Harem, so beginning the tradition of kafes hayat ı (cage life). This house arrest, adopted in place of fratricide by succeeding sultans, meant the pampered statecraft and usually rendered unfit to rule if the occasion arose. The practice contrib uted to the decline of the empire’s power and that of succeeding sultans, even though in later years the dynasty observed the custom of primogeniture. SULTANAHMET & AROUND TOPKAPI PALACE princes were kept ignorant of war and

Sultan Murat III (r 1574–95) had 112 children.