Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City by John Freely, Hilary Sumner-Boyd
Authors: John Freely, Hilary Sumner-Boyd
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several times burned down and reconstructed, now serve as workrooms for the museum.
On the left or west side of the Court, between the outer wall and the church of Haghia Eirene, once stood a quadrangle which housed the Straw Weavers and the Carriers of Silver Pitchers, and whose courtyard served as a storage place for the firewood of the Palace. Part of this has been excavated, revealing Byzantine substructures; these and the church of Haghia Eirene, converted by Fatih into an arsenal, are described in Chapter 5. North of the church, behind a high wall, are buildings once used as the Imperial Mint and the Outer Treasury. Beside these a road runs down to the museums and the public gardens of the Saray. The rest of this side of the Court was occupied by barracks for domestics of the Outer Service, a mosque, and storerooms; these, doubtless largely constructed of wood, have completely disappeared.
We now approach the Bab-üs Selam or Gate of Salutations, generally known as Orta Kap ı , or the Middle Gate. This is a much more impressive gateway than the first, very typical of the military architecture of Fatih’s time with its octagonal towers and conical tops. This was the entrance to the Inner Palace where everyone had to dismount, for no one but the Sultan was allowed to ride beyond this point. In the wall to the right of the gate is the Executioner’s Fountain (Cellat Çe ş mesi); here the executioner washed his hands and sword after a decapitation, which usually took place just outside the gate. Nearby are two Example Stones (Ibret Ta ş lar ı ) for displaying the heads of important culprits. Here one comes to the public entrance to the Topkap ı Saray ı Museum where, after purchasing a ticket, one enters the Second Court.
THE SECOND COURT
This Court, still very much as it was when Fatih laid it out, is a tranquil cloister of imposing proportions, planted with venerable cypress trees; several fountains once adorned it and mild-eyed gazelles pastured on the glebe. Except for the rooms of the Divan and the Inner Treasury in the north-west corner there are no buildings in this court, which consists simply of blank walls faced by colonnaded porticoes with antique marble columns and Turkish capitals. Beyond the colonnade the whole of the eastern side is occupied by the kitchens of the palace, while beyond the western colonnade are the Privy Stables and the quarters of the Halberdiers-with-Tresses.
The Court of the Divan seems to have been designed essentially for the pageantry connected with the transaction of the public business of the Empire. Here four times a week the Divan, or Imperial Council, met to deliberate on administrative affairs or to discharge its judicial functions. On such occasions the whole courtyard was filled with a vast throng of magnificently dressed officials and the corps of Palace guards and Janissaries, at least 5,000 on ordinary days, but more than 10,000 when ambassadors were received or other extraordinary business was transacted. Even at such times an almost absolute silence reigned throughout the courtyard, a silence commented on with astonishment by the travellers who witnessed it.
The inside of the Bab-üs Selam has an elaborate but oddly irregular portico of ten columns with a widely overhanging roof, unfortunately badly repainted in the nineteenth century. To the right is a crude but useful bird’s-eye view of the Saray which helps one to get one’s bearings. The rooms on either side of the gate had various uses: guardrooms, the executioner’s room with a prison attached, waiting-rooms for ambassadors and others attending an audience with the Grand Vezir or Sultan.
From the gate, five paths radiate to various parts of the Court. Let us first visit – as is only right – the Divan. This, together with the Inner Treasury, projects from the north-west corner and is dominated by the square tower with a conical roof which is such a conspicuous feature of the Saray from many points
On the left or west side of the Court, between the outer wall and the church of Haghia Eirene, once stood a quadrangle which housed the Straw Weavers and the Carriers of Silver Pitchers, and whose courtyard served as a storage place for the firewood of the Palace. Part of this has been excavated, revealing Byzantine substructures; these and the church of Haghia Eirene, converted by Fatih into an arsenal, are described in Chapter 5. North of the church, behind a high wall, are buildings once used as the Imperial Mint and the Outer Treasury. Beside these a road runs down to the museums and the public gardens of the Saray. The rest of this side of the Court was occupied by barracks for domestics of the Outer Service, a mosque, and storerooms; these, doubtless largely constructed of wood, have completely disappeared.
We now approach the Bab-üs Selam or Gate of Salutations, generally known as Orta Kap ı , or the Middle Gate. This is a much more impressive gateway than the first, very typical of the military architecture of Fatih’s time with its octagonal towers and conical tops. This was the entrance to the Inner Palace where everyone had to dismount, for no one but the Sultan was allowed to ride beyond this point. In the wall to the right of the gate is the Executioner’s Fountain (Cellat Çe ş mesi); here the executioner washed his hands and sword after a decapitation, which usually took place just outside the gate. Nearby are two Example Stones (Ibret Ta ş lar ı ) for displaying the heads of important culprits. Here one comes to the public entrance to the Topkap ı Saray ı Museum where, after purchasing a ticket, one enters the Second Court.
THE SECOND COURT
This Court, still very much as it was when Fatih laid it out, is a tranquil cloister of imposing proportions, planted with venerable cypress trees; several fountains once adorned it and mild-eyed gazelles pastured on the glebe. Except for the rooms of the Divan and the Inner Treasury in the north-west corner there are no buildings in this court, which consists simply of blank walls faced by colonnaded porticoes with antique marble columns and Turkish capitals. Beyond the colonnade the whole of the eastern side is occupied by the kitchens of the palace, while beyond the western colonnade are the Privy Stables and the quarters of the Halberdiers-with-Tresses.
The Court of the Divan seems to have been designed essentially for the pageantry connected with the transaction of the public business of the Empire. Here four times a week the Divan, or Imperial Council, met to deliberate on administrative affairs or to discharge its judicial functions. On such occasions the whole courtyard was filled with a vast throng of magnificently dressed officials and the corps of Palace guards and Janissaries, at least 5,000 on ordinary days, but more than 10,000 when ambassadors were received or other extraordinary business was transacted. Even at such times an almost absolute silence reigned throughout the courtyard, a silence commented on with astonishment by the travellers who witnessed it.
The inside of the Bab-üs Selam has an elaborate but oddly irregular portico of ten columns with a widely overhanging roof, unfortunately badly repainted in the nineteenth century. To the right is a crude but useful bird’s-eye view of the Saray which helps one to get one’s bearings. The rooms on either side of the gate had various uses: guardrooms, the executioner’s room with a prison attached, waiting-rooms for ambassadors and others attending an audience with the Grand Vezir or Sultan.
From the gate, five paths radiate to various parts of the Court. Let us first visit – as is only right – the Divan. This, together with the Inner Treasury, projects from the north-west corner and is dominated by the square tower with a conical roof which is such a conspicuous feature of the Saray from many points
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