Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City (13 page)

Retracing our steps under the loggia of the Divan, we come to a door almost underneath the tower. This is the Carriage Gate, one of the two main entrances to the Harem; we shall return to it later after visiting the rest of the palace first. The remainder of the west side of the Court is occupied by a long portico where are displayed various Turkish inscriptions assembled from different places. A small door in this wall near the Carriage Gate leads to the quarters of the Halberdiers-with-Tresses (Zülüflü Baltac
ı
lar), so called because two false curls or tresses hung down from their tall hats in front of their eyes. This strange headgear was devised so that the Halberdiers, who on occasion delivered firewood to the Harem, could not get a good view of the odalisques! The quarters of the Halberdiers-with-Tresses are as picturesque as their name, but they are not open to the public.

At the south end of this portico, a door called the Gate of the Dead (Meyyit Kap
ı
s
ı
), because through it were borne the bodies of those who died in the Saray, leads down to the area of the Privy Stables on the lower slope of the hill. We come first to the mid-eighteenth-century mosque of Be
ş
ir A
ğ
a. This is chiefly interesting for its curious minaret corbelled out from a corner of the building; the minaret has no balcony but, instead, an enclosed space at the top with openings for the müezzin to make the call to prayer. The Privy Stables (Has Ah
ı
r), which housed only 20 or 30 horses for the use of the Sultan and his favourite pages, occupied the long building which runs from end to end of this area. Built by Fatih, it consists of two parts, the long stables themselves and at the far end two smaller rooms, that of the Imrahor, or Master of the Horse, and the Raht Hazinesi, or Harness Treasury, for the bejewelled harnesses and trappings. These are very pretty rooms, one with a charming eighteenth-century painted ceiling, the other domed and with a quaint gallery. In both are now displayed the valuable imperial harnesses, while the long stable now houses carriages, mostly of the nineteenth century and not very interesting.

Returning to the Orta Kapi, we now take the right-hand path towards the kitchens. On the way we notice an enormous fifth- or sixth-century Byzantine capital, dug up here in the 1960s. If we enter the kitchen area by the southernmost gate, we find another capital of the same type, slightly smaller but more interestingly carved. Both capitals obviously bore statues, but whose statues and why they came to be buried in the Saray are still unanswered questions.

Beyond the three gates a long, narrow courtyard or open passageway runs the entire length of the area. The palace kitchens open off from this on the right; on the left are the storerooms for food and utensils and rooms for the various categories of cooks, as well as two mosques. The southern part of the area and rooms on the left have been much reconstructed in modern times and are used as museum storehouses and offices. The kitchens consist of a long series of ten spacious rooms with lofty domes on the Marmara side – a conspicuous feature of the Istanbul skyline – and equally lofty domelike chimneys on the side of the court yard. The two southernmost domes go back to Fatih’s time, the other eight to that of Beyazit II, while the cone-like chimneys in front of them are additions by Sinan, who reconstructed much of this area for Murat III after the devastating fire of 1574. Each kitchen had a separate use: for the Sultan, for the Valide, the eunuchs, the harem ladies, the Divan, and so on; but the assignments varied from time to time.

Today the kitchens are used for the display of the Saray’s incomparable collection of Chinese porcelain and other china and glass. The Chinese collection is said to be the third richest and most varied in the world, surpassed only by those at Beijing and Dresden. Begun by Beyazit II, augmented by Selim I and above all by Süleyman the Magnificent, the pieces date from the wonderful celadons of the Sung and Yuan dynasties (A.D. 960–1368) to the later Ming of the eighteenth century. The European specimens, Limoges, Sèvres, Meissen and others, are less impressive. In the last two kitchens there is a fascinating collection of antique kitchen utensils, including platters, bowls, ladles and kazans, or bronze cauldrons of prodigious size, all of which were once used in the Saray kitchens. The small building with three domes at the north end of the courtyard is variously described as the confectioner’s mosque or as an olive-oil refinery and soap manufactory; doubtless it served different purposes at different times. It now houses an interesting collection of Turkish glass from the Beykoz and other Istanbul factories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some of it very lovely.

Leaving the kitchen precincts, we approach the third gate, the Bab-üs Saadet, or Gate of Felicity, the entrance to the strictly private parts of the Palace. The gate itself must go back to the time of Fatih, though it was reconstructed in the later sixteenth century and thoroughly redecorated in a rococo style in the eighteenth. At the time of his accession and on bayrams, the Sultan sat here on his gold and emerald throne to receive the homage of his subjects and officials.

THE THIRD COURT

Just beyond the inner threshold of the Bab-üs Saadet stands the Arz Odas
ı
, or Throne Room. Although in the Third Court, it belongs by function and use rather to the Second, for here was played out the last act of the ceremonies connected with the meetings of the Divan. Here, at the end of each session of the council, the Grand Vezir and the other high functionaries waited on the Sultan and reported to him upon the business transacted and the decisions taken, which could not be considered final until they had received the royal assent. Here also the ambassadors of foreign powers were presented at their arrival and leave-taking. The Throne Room occupies a small building with a heavy and widely overhanging roof supported on a colonnade of antique marble columns. The foundations date from Fatih’s time, but most of the superstructure belongs to that of Selim I; inscriptions record restorations by Ahmet III and Mahmut II. The room was restored yet again in more recent times, after being badly damaged in the fire of 1856. On either side of the entrance portal are panels of yellow and green tiles in the charming
cuerda seca
technique of the early Iznik period in the sixteenth century, and nearby is a fountain placed there by Süleyman. The building is divided into a small antechamber on the right and the throne room proper on the left. The magnificent canopy of the throne, dated by an inscription to A.H. 1005 (A.D. 1596) in the reign of Mehmet III, and a gilt-bronze chimney-piece nearby, are the only parts of the decoration that survived the nineteenth-century fire. The throne was hung with magnificent bejewelled embroideries for different occasions; some of these are on display in the Treasury.

Apart from the Throne Room, the Treasury and the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle, all the buildings in and around this Third Court were devoted to the Halls of the Palace School. The School was organized in six divisions or Halls: the two introductory schools, Küçük Oda (Small Hall) and Büyük Oda (Large Hall), occupied the entire southern side of the court to left and right, respectively, of the Bab-üs Saadet. Here were the quarters of the White Eunuchs and their A
ğ
a, who were in charge of the administration and discipline of the School. If a youth was talented in any direction, he would pass from this introductory school to one of the four vocational Halls. The Seferli Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, or Campaign Hall, stands on the raised part of the east side of the Court, formerly surrounded on the sides and back by the baths of Selim III, the principal hamam of the school. The northen side of the Court, opposite the Bab-üs Saadet, was occupied by the Hazine Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, the Hall of the Treasury, next to the Treasury itself, and the Kiler Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, the Hall of the Commissariat. Finally, the last and highest of the vocational schools, the Has Oda Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, the Hall of the Privy Chamber, occupies a large building on the west side of the Court between the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle and A
ğ
alar Camii.

This elaborately organized school for the training of the Imperial Civil Service appears to be unique in the Islamic world. It was founded and its principles laid down by Fatih, though later sultans added to and modified it. The pages who attended the school came from the Christian minorities of the Empire and likely youths captured in war. They entered at various ages from 12 to 18 and received a vigorous training, intellectual and physical, which in contrast to the usual Islamic education was largely secular and designed to prepare the students for the administration of the Empire. There can be no doubt that the brilliant success of the Ottoman state in the earlier centuries of its existence was to a large extent due to the training its administrators received in this school.

Tuning to the right from Bab-üs Saadet, we pass the building which was once the Büyük Oda. This building burned down in 1856 but has since been reconstructed and is now used for museum offices. We then come to Seferli Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, preceded by a domed colonnade supported by a row of very handsome Byzantine columns in verd antique. The Hall is a long room divided into three aisles by two rows of pillars and barrel-vaulted. It houses the Imperial Wardrobe, a fascinating collection of costumes of the sultans from Fatih’s time onward. There are over 1,300 of them, of which many of the most interesting are on display. All of the older ones are of the kaftan type, a long robe reaching to the feet made of silk, satin or velvet brocade in brilliant colours and bold design, often lined or trimmed with fur; many are of outstanding beauty and nearly all are in perfect condition.

The rest of the eastern side of the Court is taken up with the rooms, on a slightly lower level, of the kö
ş
k or pavilion of Mehmet the Conqueror, which served him and several later sultans as a selaml
ı
k, or suite of reception rooms. The vaults below were used as the Privy Treasury and gradually the rooms themselves were turned over to the Treasury as storerooms. It is curious that these rooms, some of the finest in the Palace and with an unrivalled view, should from the seventeenth century onwards have been used as mere storerooms, even the superb open loggia at the corner having at one time been walled in. The loggia has been opened again and the rooms are used for the display of the Palace treasures: four great thrones encrusted with precious stones, of which the huge golden one studded with emeralds (actually chrysolites) was used on bayrams and other state occasions right down to the end of the Empire; bejewelled swords and daggers, objects of jade and other semi-precious stones often mounted in gold, caskets overflowing with uncut emeralds and rubies, and hundreds of other precious objects of gold and jewels. It is altogether an astonishing collection, admirably mounted and displayed.

In the centre of the Court, standing by itself, is the Library of Ahmet III, erected in 1719 near the site of an older pavilion with a pool. It is an elegant little building of Proconnesian marble consisting of a domed area flanked by three loggias with sofas and cupboards for books, and though of the eighteenth century the decoration is still almost wholly classical.

The two main buildings on the north side of the Court were both damaged in the fire of 1856; the nearer one was entirely reconstructed and now serves as offices for the Director of the Museum. The farther one, beyond a passage leading to the Fourth Court, houses the exhibition of Turkish and Persian miniatures. From an artistic point of view this is perhaps the supreme treasure of the Saray; the collection of miniatures is said to number more than 13,000. Here one finds exhibited, in addition to the celebrated paintings of the Fatih Album and examples of the various Persian schools, a large collection of the Turkish school, including a beautiful and touching portrait of Süleyman in old age by Nigâri and portraits by the same artist of Barbarossa and of Selim II. The
Hünername
and the
Surname
manuscripts are justly celebrated: the former deals with the hunting prowess of the sultans, the latter with the fabulous circumcision ceremonies of Prince Mehmet, son of Mehmet III, which lasted for 52 days in the Hippodrome; both are lavishly illustrated. Among the later works the single figures of men and women by Levni are bewitching for their elegance and wit.

The west side of the Court is occupied by the following buildings: the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle, the Hall of the Privy Chamber, the Mosque of the A
ğ
as, and one of the two main entrances to the Harem. The first and last of these we shall visit presently; meantime a few words will suffice for the two middle ones. The Has Oda Ko
ğ
u
ş
u, or Hall of the Privy Chamber, was the highest of the vocational divisions of the Palace School, limited to 40 pages in immediate attendance upon the Sultan, including the highest of the officials in the Inner Palace. Here is displayed a part of the collection of manuscripts, not miniatures this time but admirable calligraphy, of all periods and all schools. Beyond the Has Oda, the building that juts out at an angle is A
ğ
alar Camii, the principal mosque of the Palace School. Though dating in origin from the time of Fatih, it has been much remodelled and now houses the Library of the Saray.

We now return to the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle, or H
ı
rka-i Saadet Dairesi, where are preserved the relics of the Prophet Muhammed. These relics, of which the Prophet’s Mantle is the most sacred, were brought from Egypt by Selim I after his conquest of that country in 1517, when he assumed the title of Caliph. For centuries they were guarded here religiously and displayed on state occasions only to the Sultan, his family and his immediate entourage; in 1962 the present exhibit was arranged and opened to the public. The Pavilion itself consists of four domed rooms forming a square, with a fifth domed room opening off to the left. In foundation and plan at least, it goes back to Fatih’s time; at that time and until the nineteenth century it formed part of the Has Oda, or selaml
ı
k. Murat III partly reconstructed the rooms and embellished them with tiles, and Mahmut II added some not very happy touches.