Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

First Court Before you enter the Imperial Gate of Topkapı , take a look at the ornate structure in the cobbled square just outside. This is the rococo-style Fountain of Sultan Ahmet III ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ) , built in 1728 by the sultan who so favoured tulips. As you pass through the Imperial Gate, you enter the First Court, known as the Court of the Janissaries or the Parade Court. On your left is the Byzantine church of Hagia Eirene, more commonly known as Aya İrini. Mehmet the Conqueror had built the first stage of the palace shortly after the Conquest in 1453, and lived in the compound behind the Imperial Gate until his death in 1481. The Ottoman sultans continued to live in Topkapı’s rarefied environment until the 19th century, when they moved to ostentatious European-style palaces such as Dolmabahçe, Çırağan and Yıldız that were built on the shores of the Bosphorus.

WOMEN OF THE HAREM

Islam forbade enslaving Muslims, so the concubines in Topkapı’s Harem were foreigners or infidels. Girls were bought as slaves or were received as gifts from nobles and potentates. Many of the girls were from Eastern Europe and all were noted for their beauty. The most famous was Haseki Hürrem (Joyous One), more commonly known as Roxelana, who was the consort of Süleyman the Magnificent. The daughter of a Ruthenian (Ukrainian) Orthodox priest, she was captured by Crimean Tatars, who brought her to Constantinople to be sold in the slave market.

The chief black eunuch, the sultan’s personal representative in administration of the Harem and other important affairs of state, was the third most powerful official in the empire, after the grand vizier and the supreme Islamic judge.

Second Court The Middle Gate (Ortakapı or Bab-üs Selâm) led to the palace’s Second Court, used for the business of running the empire. Only the sultan and his mother, the valide sultan, were allowed through the Middle Gate on horseback. Everyone