Topkapı Palace
Four courtyards instead of one building — the logic of a campaign tent, in stone.
- Builtfrom 1460 onwards
- DistrictFatih
- UNESCO World Heritage
It looks nothing like a European palace because it is not one. It is a sequence of four courtyards, each more private than the last, with loose pavilions around them. Outsiders stopped at the first; anyone with business before the sultan crossed the second; the fourth was very nearly his alone.
The Harem is ticketed separately and is the part most people regret skipping: two hundred-odd rooms, İznik tiles of the good period, and the explanation of how the household actually worked.
From the fourth courtyard you see the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at once. The palace is there because of that view, not in spite of it.
What to look for
- The Harem — ticketed separately, and the part that explains how the household worked. Do not skip it.
- The fourth courtyard: Bosphorus, Golden Horn and Marmara at once, from the kiosks on the terrace.
- The kitchens, with their chimneys in a row and one of the largest collections of Chinese porcelain anywhere.
- The Council Hall, with the grilled window from which the sultan could listen without being present.
Before you go
- Allow two to three hours. With the Harem, closer to three.
- Buy the Harem ticket at the same time as the entrance one — it is sold separately and the queue is a different queue.
- There is very little shade in the courtyards. A hat, in summer.
- Closed one day a week; check before building a morning around it.
Nearby
Hagia Sophia
For a thousand years the largest cathedral in the world, then a mosque, then a museum, and a mosque again today.
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The Blue Mosque
Twenty thousand İznik tiles inside, six minarets outside, and still a working neighbourhood mosque.
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The Basilica Cistern
Three hundred and thirty-six columns under the street, holding the water of a city that could be besieged.
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