The last of 10 in this series on Istanbul. Aside from the random views and street art- which are only achieved if you make the time to take in the city by foot – the other 8 are worth the energy. This one though, the Topkapi Palace (the 2nd palace in the list which is odd enough) – the only place that matters is the harem. The library too if I’m going to be diligent about it. The whole complex is worth a walk- plenty of galleries of this and that, none of which I needed to go into because really the architecture itself here is the gem.
Architecture is a marker of how we live and many times an aspiration to how we want to live. The preservation of the harem at this palace was one of the best I’ve ever seen. There were so many moments in Istanbul where I was awestruck- but how much I had read about and admired and now had the chance to experience- to connect all those pieces together was a convergence across many parallel universes.
Of all the posts I have taken a rapid approach to in these past couple of weeks- I think this is one that I would return to and edit. But in the mean time, my astonishments:
- the harem is literally hanging off the side of the palace but so much of the life of the palace was here
- the day to day processes run in this maze are so systematic
- lots of engineering ingenuity – hygiene was important here
- the spaces are progressive linearly in hierarchy- not vertically
- what devotion to detail- the tiles are from another world
Two other notes – 1) a practice I’ve mentioned in other posts- I say to look up – in the harem, please practice this and pay attention to the sky lights 2) make time to walk the Gülhane Park just adjacent to the palace. I happened upon the park while looking for the entrance to the palace and was immediately drawn in to see it. Similar to the Borghese gardens, these gardens now public once were exclusive. Now that I know of both, I have a chance to prioritize them upon my return- they deserve to be enjoyed with all the time possible.
Notes from Gemini:
Gülhane Park (meaning “House of Roses”) in Istanbul was originally the exclusive outer garden of Topkapı Palace, reserved only for Ottoman royalty. It was famously the site of the 1839 Tanzimat Edict, launching the empire’s modernization. In 1912, the imperial grounds were transformed into Istanbul’s first modern public municipal park.
Because I mentioned the library, I share a photo below but let me tell you- this place did not want to be photographed. I am not sure I’ve ever tried so many of my go to tricks on a place only to feel that I still failed, but failure is how we learn and I hear you my dear friend “Take learning seriously…”.
p.s. I had 46 of these to write as of a couple weeks ago and my target was to finish them by February next year. But of those, I only have 5 on Zurich to write still – making the remaining 11 left on Brazil, the beast from which I know will chew me up and spit me out a few times over. Like the bison that turn to face directly to the storm- I too shall endure.
Address: Cankurtaran, Babı Hümayun Cad No: 1, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye
Website: Topkapi Palace write up
