Old Palace

Eski Saray (Turkish for "Old Palace"), also known as Sarây-ı Atîk-i Âmire, was a palatial building in Constantinople under the Ottoman Empire in the Beyazıt neighborhood of the Fatih district, between the Süleymaniye Mosque and the Bayezid II Mosque.

Construction of the palace began shortly after the 1453 conquest and was completed in 1458. Historians of the period including Doukas and Michael Critobulus stated that it was completed in 1455.

Evliya Çelebi stated in his Seyahatnâme that the construction of the palace began in 1454 on the site of an old church and that the palace was surrounded by a solid rectangular wall covered with a blue lead that had a perimeter of 12,000 arşın, approximately equivalent to 9 kilometres (5.6 mi).

Historian Tursun Beg, a contemporary of Mehmed II, mentioned that the palace housed mansions, a harem, the Imperial Council, the throne room where the Sultan carried out state affairs, and its grounds included an area for hunting.

When the construction of Topkapi Palace was completed in 1481, the Imperial Council and the administration was shifted to the Topkapi, while the Old Palace housed the Imperial Harem of the Empire. Until the reign of Suleiman, Ottoman concubines including the Mother, sisters, consorts and daughters of the Sultans were not allowed to stay in the Topkapi palace and mostly stayed in the Old Palace. Mehmed the Conqueror had specifically issued a decree to the effect that no women would be allowed to reside in the same building where government affairs were conducted.

In 1541, Hurrem Sultan, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent and the Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire at that time, ordered to permanently shift the entire Ottoman Imperial Harem and the Residence of all the Ottoman Royal family members to the Topkapi Palace after a fire broke out in the Old Palace in the same year.

Text adapted from “Eski Saray” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Old Palace ranks #1,193 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #26 of the 126 mapped in Turkey. Founded 1458, it is older than 48% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 434 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 11,042 times in the last 60 days, more than 93% of the atlas. 21 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Istanbul, 1 km away. See how Turkey compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗