Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Part of this has been excavated, revealing Byzantine substructures;
these and the church of Haghia Eirene, converted by Fatih into an
arsenal, are described in Chapter 5. North of the church, behind
a high wall, are buildings once used as the Imperial Mint and the
Outer Treasury. Beside these a road runs down to the museums and
the public gardens of the Saray. The rest of this side of the Court was
occupied by barracks for domestics of the Outer Service, a mosque,
and storerooms; these, doubtless largely constructed of wood, have
completely disappeared.
We now approach the Bab-üs Selam or Gate of Salutations,
generally known as Orta Kapı, or the Middle Gate. This is a much
more impressive gateway than the first, very typical of the military
architecture of Fatih's time with its octagonal towers and conical
tops. This was the entrance to the Inner Palace where everyone had to
dismount, for no one but the Sultan was allowed to ride beyond this
point. In the wall to the right of the gate is the Executioner's Fountain
(Cellat Çeşmesi); here the executioner washed his hands and sword
after a decapitation, which usually took place just outside the gate.
Nearby are two Example Stones (Ibret Taşları) for displaying the
heads of important culprits. Here one comes to the public entrance
to the Topkapı Sarayı Museum where, after purchasing a ticket, one
enters the Second Court.
THE SECOND COURT
This Court, still very much as it was when Fatih laid it out, is a tranquil
cloister of imposing proportions, planted with venerable cypress trees;
several fountains once adorned it and mild-eyed gazelles pastured on
the glebe. Except for the rooms of the Divan and the Inner Treasury
in the north-west corner there are no buildings in this court, which
consists simply of blank walls faced by colonnaded porticoes with
antique marble columns and Turkish capitals. Beyond the colonnade
the whole of the eastern side is occupied by the kitchens of the palace,
while beyond the western colonnade are the Privy Stables and the
quarters of the Halberdiers-with-Tresses.
The Court of the Divan seems to have been designed essentially for
the pageantry connected with the transaction of the public business
Search WWH ::




Custom Search