Topkap Saray - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 64

chosen a more magnificent site in the city. As Evliya Çelebi remarked
of it more than three centuries ago: “Never hath a more delightful
residence been erected by the art of man.”
Of the Palace as we know it today, almost the entire plan, with
the exception of the Harem and the so-called Fourth Court, was laid
out and built by Fatih between 1459 and 1465. The Harem in its
present state belongs largely to the time of Murat III (r. 1574-95),
with extensive reconstructions and additions chiefly under Mehmet
IV (r. 1648-87) and Osman III (r. 1754-7); while the isolated
pavilions of the Fourth Court date from various periods. On three
occasions, in 1574, 1665 and 1856, very serious fires devastated
large sections of the Palace, so that while the three main courts have
preserved essentially the arrangement given them by Fatih, many of
the buildings have either disappeared (as most of those in the First
Court) or been reconstructed and redecorated in later periods.
The Palace of Topkapı must not be thought of merely as the private
residence of the Sultan and his court, for it was much more than that.
It was the seat of the supreme executive and judicial council of the
Empire, the Divan, and it housed the largest and most select of the
training schools for the imperial civil service, the Palace School. The
various divisions of the Saray correspond pretty clearly with these
various functions. The First Court, which was open to the public,
was the service area for the Palace. It contained a hospital, a bakery,
an arsenal, the mint and outer treasury, and a large number of storage
places and dormitories for guards and domestics of the Outer Service,
those whose duties did not ordinarily bring them into the private,
residential areas of the Palace. The Second Court was the seat of the
Divan, devoted to the public administration of the Empire; it could
be entered by anyone who had business to transact with the Council.
Beyond this court to right and left were certain other service areas:
the kitchens and privy stables. The Third Court, strictly reserved for
officials of the Court and Government, was largely given over to
various divisions of the Palace School, but also contained some of
the chambers of the selamlık, or reception rooms of the Sultan.The
Harem, specifically the women's quarter of the Palace, had additional
rooms of the selamlık, the men's quarter of the palace, and the