Harem-2

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DIVAN TOWER

Opposite the Meskane Gate is to be seen the Tower Gate, surmounted by an inscription carved in marble. The Tower itself is a rather high, square structure, with a stone stair leading up to a grilled window. The second floor originally consisted of a small pavillion, but a floor was added later in the 18th century with conical roof and large windows. There is yet another gate, on the right side of the Tower Gate, leading into the Administration Courtyard.

MESJID OF THE BLACK EUNUCHS

The Mesjid is entered through a small door and a small anteroom. It is roughly square, with a flat roof with painted decoration and walls covered with 17th century tiles. A third door opposite the mihrab leads into the kalfa school where concubines were educated. A colonnade leads from the Mesjid to the Quarters of the Black Eunuchs, the windows in the colonnade being those of the first floor of the Quarters.


The Apartments of Valide Sultan
  

The Imperial Bath

 

www.virtualistanbul.com

Topkapi Palace Museum

Sarayici, Sultanahmet

Telephone: 90-212-5120480

Open daily except Tuesdays, 09:30-16:00

Harem section can be visited only by a guided tour and tickets should be purchased separetely.

 

 

 

 

 

QUARTERS OF THE BLACK EUNUCHS

This consists of a long sofa with a series of rooms on each side, the rooms on the first having a single door and window opening on to this sofa. In the rooms on the left the walls are completely covered with 17th century tiles, and at the end of the sofa stands a tiled fireplace. The rooms on the upper floor are in the form of evyans opening on to the sofa with marble balustrades in front of them. The sofa itself is roofed by a long cradle vault.

The whole of the first floor of the Quarters was assigned to the Gulam Agha, who came next to the Kızlar Agha ( Chief of the Black Eunuchs ) in importance and was in direct charge of the Black Eunuchs. The tiled rooms on the left consist of the selamlık ( public rooms ), bedrooms, guest rooms and dining-room.

The second floor was occupied by the second class Eunuchs, the third floor by the Haslılar and the fourth floor by the Acemiler ( recruits ). The drum now hanging on the wall on the right was beaten in Ramazan, while the falaka ( bastinado ) was used to punish the recruits. Immediately behind the entrance is the stairway leading to the upper floors. Under this stairway can be found an anteroom and the toilets of the Black Eunuchs.

The duties of the Black Eunuchs who occupied these quarters consisted in locking and unlocking the doors of the Harem at night and in the morning, in guarding the gates, in accompanying the carriages and in seeing that no unauthorised person entered the Harem precincts.

The Quarters of the Black Eunuchs


THE APARTMENTS OF THE CHIEF BLACK EUNUCH

These are immediately to the right of the Quarters of the Black Eunuchs. The entrance hall consists of a large niche covered with tiles. The school of the Princes and the hamam on the upper floor are closed to the puclic.

On the right of the Apartments of the Chief of the Black Eunuchs stands the real entrance to the Harem. This opens into a paved passage where the black eunuchs stood guard. On the right there is a door opening into the Golden Way, while the door on the left opens into a long corridor leading to the courtyard of the Kadınefendiler ( the Sultan's wives ). A third door opens on to the Courtyard of the Valide Sultan ( Queen Mother ). One or two black eunuchs would stand guard on the platform beside this door, while beside the door opening into the Apartments of the Kadinefendiler can be seen the high marble shelves on which the food was placed for distribution to the inhabitants of the Harem.

 

  

 

THE COURTYARD OF THE KADINEFENDILER

This courtyard, also known as the Courtyard of the Concubines, was surrounded by the apartments of the three kadinefendis ( the second, third and fourth wives of the Sultan ), a hamam, rooms for the concubines, and pantries.

The apartments of the three kedinefendis are directly opposite the entrance to the courtyard. The apartment of the second kadinefendi, which is now open to the public, consists of two vestibules leading into two rooms opening one off another. These are furnished with low divans with a mangal ( brazier ) in the centre of the room. The walls are faced with 17th century tiles, while the ceiling is decorated with painted motifs. The bedrooms are situated on the second floor. On the left of the apartments of the second kadinefendi there is a large door opening into forty steps leading down to the Hospital of the Concubines, a rectangular building constructed around a colonnaded courtyard.

On the death of the sultan the Kadinefendis were sent to the Old Palace and their places were taken by the wives of the new sultan.

THE APARTMENTS OF THE VALIDE SULTAN ( QUEEN MOTHER )

This is reached through two small vestibules to the right of the Apartments of the Kadinefendis and is the most important part of the Harem after the Imperial Sofa. With its dining room, prayer room, hamam and various other chambers grouped around a spacious courtyard it forms the heart and centre of the whole Harem.

The dining-room of the Valide Sultan is a square room with a fairly high doomed roof. The lower sections of the walls are covered with 17th century tiles, while the doors of the built-in cupboards are decorated in mother-of-pearl inlay. The western type landscapes and plant motifs on the upper part of the walls and in the dome were executed in 1817 on the orders of Mahmut II.

 

 
The Court of Kadinefendis