Photo Essay: The Topkapi Palace

Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the young Sultan Mehmet (later to be called the conqueror “Fatih” Sultan Mehmet) moved the capital of the Ottoman Empire to Istanbul. Even though he already had a palace located in the town centre he decided to have a second one to be constructed. This second palace was constructed in the 1470's and was initially called the New Palace. As time past this New Palace was eventually called and internationally known as the Topkapi Palace.

The Palace is built in a traditional Turkish architecture and consists of tree-shaded courtyards opening onto one another. Each courtyard has been used for different purposes during history. With their extraordinary gorgeous monumental gates, all three courtyards are surrounded by functional structures. From the original time of construction it’s very obvious that the structure has had tremendous and continuous modifications. Basically as each Sultan came to power he made an alteration and additions according to his needs at the time.

Unfortunately towards the end of the Empire keeping up with the Western world the Sultans moved to the modern structure called Dolmabahçe approximately in 1853. After that date Topkapi Palace lost its importance and was basically abandoned and left to its own corruption. With the new founded republic the palace went under a very detailed and long restoration until it was opened as a museum at Atatürk's request that exhibits exquisite masterpieces. It is located in the Sultanahmet district which basically is the historical peninsula of Istanbul. It’s one of the first compulsory visits for any tourist in Istanbul.