Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Floor Plan

A The first court

B The second court
C The third court
D The fourth court
1 The middle gate (gate of greeting)
2 The kitchens (Chinese and Japanese Porcelain - Silverware)
3 The hall of Divan
4 The tower of justice
5 The armoury
6 The gate of Felicity
7 The Throne room
8 The costumes
9 The treasury
10 The Miniature painting collection
11 The clocks
12 The Pavilion of the Blessed Mantle
13 Mecidiye Pavillon
14 Iftariye (breakfast) and Baghdad Pavilion
15 The Harem

 The private zone of the palace, (the mother,

siblings of the sultan, the other members of the
family, and the concubines and eunuchs who
served this large family lived)
Consists of long narrow hallways and about 400
rooms scattered around small courtyards.
Strictly closed to outsiders. Only a section of the
harem is open to the public.
The next sections are the large Turkish bath and
the spacious, domed hall reserved for the sultans.
fireplaces and fountains in all available places
The large hall with a pool filled by interesting
fountains is decorated with exquisite 16th
century tiles.
It dates to the reign of Murat III. From the end of
this hall, one enters the small library and the
"fruit room" which is embellished with paintings
of fruits and flowers.
The room seen at the end of the harem tour have

Interior of Topkapi Palace

TENTS AND COURTYARDS
The steep terrain upon
which the palace was
built dictated asymmetry
Dominant feature of
the palace: 3 huge
courtyards, completely
assymetrical, around
which subsequent
constructs are clustered
in grids at irregular
angles.

THE DIVAN
The second courtyard was
flanked by the Divan, the
kitchens and the treasury.
These buildings contributed to
the display of imperial power
symbolically, by function, rather
than monumentality:

- The Sultan was capable of

feeding, not only his vast
household and army but entire
city populations
the treasury was the repository
of the wealth that brought about
this abundance; and the Divan
was where the distribution of
wealth was meted out with
justice.

THE GATE OF FELICITY

The Gate of Felicity led
into the third courtyard,
and to the Chamber of
Petitions as well as the
private quartes.
It is described that the
glimpses of gardens with
wild animals and birds and
water displays rather than
architectural magnificence,
leading more to the
preference of the transient
to the permanent in the
display of power and glory

GOLDEN CAGES (HAREM)

The place where the
princes who had once
been sent to the provinces
to learn the rules of
government, now grew up
secluded in the Harem, in
their golden cages due
to the fear of
assasination.

The Fruit Room, Harem

the Harem is the part of

the palace that was most
built and extended.
Sultans added rooms and
baths to existent buildings,
as well as entire buildings
to existent complexes.
Courtyards were created
and rooms chopped up or
extended to make room for
an increasing population of
wives, favourites and
concubines, all revolving
around the pivotal figure of
The Sultans mother.

ARCHES, CLUSTERS AND

COLONNADES
Repetitive motif in the
entire palace, starting in the
second courtyard, where
they front the colonnades
as well as support the
awning of the Divan
There is a difference of
almost 2 centuries between
parts of the Harem, as well
as the Pavillions in the
Hanging Gardens and the
second courtyard since it is
design by different architect

 Fronting colonnades
outdoors, these arches
support domes and roofs
indoors.
Domes cover rooms and
halls as well as the
colonnades and again the
consistency of the
proportions and shapes of
these domes is strictly
maintained throughout.
The colonnades not only
run along the lengths of
buildings but link clusters
or indeed single modules
with one another providing
further cohesion.

MODULARITY
Most of the rooms, halls
and colonnades
constructed by the
alignment of modules
consisting of domes, or
pyramidal roofs placed
upon vertical
rectangular prisms, the
4 sides of which are
arches almost like the
modules of a Lego set.

STAINED GLASS,
WALL TILES
Stained glass and
tiles typical of the
interiors
The Interior with
tiled walls usually
used Iznik tiles to
decorate the interior

Interior Materials

MARBLE
The Sadirvanli Taslik
The marble used for the
door- and window-frames
is from the quarries of the
Proconnessos on the island
of Marmara which in
Antiquity provided
practically all the grey and
white marble used in the
Eastern Mediterranean.

COLOURED GLASS
The Has Oda (Privy
Chamber) of Murad III
(1574-95)
Showing the painted
dome on the pendentives
and an upper tier of
windows of coloured
glass.
The windows are double
glazed for the Istanbul
winter.

MARBLE FLOOR
The bathroom is the
most stark-looking of all
the rooms in the harem
all cement walls and
marble floors with
bright gold lavatory
fixtures.