The 3 Travellers: Istanbul Trip, April 2007 - Topkapı Sarayı (Topkapi Palace Museum) Part 2

The word 'harem' comes from the Arabic word 'haram', which means 'forbidden by religion'. The Harem in Ottoman Palace was known as the Dâr-üs-saâde, or 'Place of Felicity'. This section of the palace encompassed harem proper, the state apartments of the sultans, the quarters of his household and the pavilions in the fourth courtyard.

These days, the Harem is unoccupied and SP was particularly disappointed that there were no belly-dancing girls to greet him in each of the 300 rooms. :P

Again, most of the Harem is closed to the public and during our visit, we only saw a dozen or so rooms. In order to visit the Harem, you will need to buy a separate ticket from the Harem ticket office in the second courtyard and participate in the 30-minutes guided tours which are held every 30 minutes.

In the old days, apart from the royal members of the family, there were only three type of men allowed in the Harem section of the palace:

doctors appointed by the court;
teachers of the princes; and,
musicians who were called at the ceremonies.

One must be Muslims to enter this section of the palace. Even though a lot of the girls were captured from conquered countries of the Ottoman empire (e.g. Georgia), as soon as they arrive in the Harem, they were forced to change names, convert to Muslim and adopts to the Ottoman culture. These girls were carefully chosen from among the most beautiful, healthy and intelligent girls of different races or they were presented to the court as gifts.

The condition in the Harem is not at all lavish for these 'trainee girls' who just entered the Harem. They would start off serving others more powerful women in the Harem as slaves girls. These girls would have to fight their way to being the sultan's favourite (which usually involved bearing a male child) in order to settle in a better life. Very few would even make it to waiting at the sultan dining table, and still fewer would become royal wives.

Only selected girls can become bed partners of the Sultan. These girls were carefully chosen and their training were supervised by the Valide Sultana (Sultan’s mother), who was the absolute master of the Harem and second most important person after the sultan regarding the administration of the empire. Sex with the sultan was a highly monitored activity! Not a matter of random pleasure, wow betided the Sultan that wanted a girl not on the list approved by his mother.

After seven years, those who were never favoured by the sultan would be given their manumission document, a set of diamond earrings and ring, a trousseau and some gold as their marriage portionor and suitable husbands found for them (usually by arranged marriages to high level civil servant.). Since these girls were taught to read and write, play music, and the intricate rules of palace etiquette and protocol, they were considered to be of good breeding and their beauty and intelligence certainly didn't hurt their chance of being liked by high ranking officials.

At its peak, there were nearly 1,200 women serving the Sultan Murat III, who was said to be the first sultan who spent all his time with women and ignoring the state's affairs.

Here are some photos from our visit:

Inside the Courtyard of the Queen Mother (Valide Tasligi)

Inlaid window shutters

This is part of the HUGE private marble bathroom of the sultan.

View of the canopied throne inside the Hünkar Sofasi (Imperial Hall or Hall of the Throne)

The details of the ceiling!

Stained glass windows.

View from the Ikballer Tasligi (Courtyard of the Favorites) up to the nearby rooms. The apartments on the upper floors were reserved for the members of the Harem the sultan liked best, enjoying open space and sea views as far as the Princes' Islands.

Exterior view of the Apartments of the Heir to the Throne, known as the Çifte Kasirlar (Twin Kiosks) or Kafes ('the Cage').