Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE

During the great days of the empire, foreign ambassadors were received at Topkapı on days when the janissaries (the sultan’s personal bodyguards) were scheduled to receive their pay. Huge sacks of silver coins were brought to the Imperial Council Chamber in the Second Court and court officers would dispense the coins to long lines of the tough, impeccably costumed and faultlessly disciplined troops as the ambassadors looked on in admiration.

Sultan İbrahim I (r 1640–48), known as ‘İbrahim the Crazy’, spent his early life imprisoned in the kafes before succeeding his brother Murat IV in 1640. His reign was marked by extravagance and instability, and he was deposed and strangled in 1648.

SPOONMAKER’S DIAMOND

The Spoonmaker’s Diamond in the Topkapı collection is one of the largest diamonds in the world. According to legend, it was found in a rubbish dump in Eğrıkapı and purchased by a wily street peddler for three spoons before eventually being purchased by a grand vizier and becoming part of the Imperial Treasury.