Topkapı Palace

For almost four centuries the Ottoman Empire was governed from a headland at the very tip of old Istanbul. Mehmed II began Topkapı Palace in 1459, a few years after taking Constantinople, on Seraglio Point, where the Golden Horn opens into the Bosphorus and both meet the Sea of Marmara. The site was chosen for exactly what still stuns visitors: from the terraces the view sweeps across water on three sides, with ships moving between two continents. The sultans lived and ruled here until the court moved to the new Dolmabahçe Palace on the Bosphorus in the mid-19th century, and in 1924, after the end of the empire, the palace became a museum.

Topkapı is not one grand building but a sequence of courts, each more private than the last. The Imperial Gate leads into a broad outer court once open to the public; the Gate of Salutation admits you to the second court, where the vast kitchens — rebuilt by the architect Sinan after a fire in 1574 — now display one of the world's great collections of Chinese porcelain, some 10,700 pieces. Beyond the Gate of Felicity lies the inner palace, and beyond that the gardens and pavilions of the fourth court, including the Baghdad and Yerevan kiosks raised to celebrate military campaigns. Their walls are sheathed in Iznik tiles of blue, turquoise and green, the finest decoration in the palace.

The Harem, a warren of more than 400 rooms, domes and corridors, shows another side of court life; its Privy Chamber of Murad III, attributed to Sinan, is among the most beautiful interiors of the classical Ottoman period. The Treasury holds the gold-hilted Topkapı Dagger with its three large emeralds and the Spoonmaker's Diamond ringed by 49 smaller stones, while the Chamber of Sacred Relics keeps objects revered across the Islamic world. The palace is part of the Historic Areas of Istanbul, inscribed by UNESCO in 1985.

Getting there

The palace stands on the historic peninsula, about 1 km from the Eminönü waterfront. The T1 tram stops at Gülhane (a short uphill walk through Gülhane Park) and at Sultanahmet, from where signs lead to the main gate. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) is about 30 km away on the Asian side.