Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City by John Freely, Hilary Sumner-Boyd Page B
Authors: John Freely, Hilary Sumner-Boyd
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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
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
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