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This Alexander the Great Sarcophagus and ancient Babylonian bull are just two of the many wonders at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, Turkey (photos © Dick Osseman).

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The Istanbul Archaeology Museum is housed in three buildings just inside the first court of Topkapi Palace and includes the Museum of the Ancient Orient. The museum has an excellent collection of Greek and Roman artifacts, including finds from Ephesus and Troy.

Collections of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

The Istanbul Archaeological Museum houses over one million objects, the most extraordinary of which are the sarcophagi that date back as far as the 4th century BC. The museum excels, however, in its rich chronological collection of locally found artifacts that shed light on the origins and history of the city.

Near the entrance is a statue of a lion representing the only piece saved from the clutches of British archaeologists from the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

On the upper floor of the building there are small stone works, pots and pans, small terracotta statues, 800,000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations, and medals, and a library with 70,000 books.

In the halls to the left is a collection of sarcophagi found at Sidon (ancient Syria) representing various architectural styles influenced by outside cultures including Egypt, Phoenicia, and Lycia. The most famous is the Alexander Sarcophagus, covered with astonishingly advanced carvings of battles and the life of Alexander the Great, discovered in 1887 and once believed to have been that of the emperor himself (it was actually Sidonian King Abdalonymos).

Found in the same necropolis at Sidon is the stunningly preserved Sarcophagus of the Crying Women, with 18 intricately carved panels showing figures of women in extreme states of mourning.

On the mezzanine level is the exhibit “Istanbul Through the Ages,” a rich and well-presented exhibit that won the museum the Council of Europe Museum Award in 1993. To put the exhibit into perspective, the curators have provided maps, plans, and drawings to illustrate the archaeological findings, displayed thematically, which range from prehistoric artifacts found west of Istanbul to 15th-century Byzantine works of art.

The recovered snake’s head from the Serpentine Column in the Hippodrome is on display, as is the 14th-century bell from the Galata Tower. The upper two levels house the Troy exhibit and displays on the evolution of Anatolia over the centuries, as well as sculptures from Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine.

The newly renovated and reopened Museum of the Ancient Orient is an exceptionally rich collection of artifacts from the earliest civilizations of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Arab continent. The tour begins with pre-Islamic divinities and idols taken from the courtyard of the Al-Ula temple, along with artifacts showing ancient Aramaic inscriptions and a small collection of Egyptian antiquities.

Uncovered in the region of Mesopotamia and on display is an obelisk of Adad-Nirari III inscribed with cuneiform characters. Of particular significance is a series of colored mosaic panels showing animal reliefs of bulls and dragons with serpents’ heads from the monumental Gate of Ishtar, built by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia.

A pictorial representation on a Sumerian devotional basin of girls carrying pitchers of water whose contents are filling an underground source relates to the ancient Mesopotamian belief that the world was surrounded by water, a belief that has provoked questions over the origins of the biblical Great Flood.

With nothing dating more recent than the 1st century AD, pretty much everything here has enormous significance. But two of the highlights are easily the fragments of the 13-century BC sphinx from the Yarkapi Gate at Hattusas and one of the three known tablets of the Treaty of Kadesh, the oldest recorded peace treaty signed between Ramses II and the Hittites in the 13th-century BC inscribed in Akkadian, the international language of the era. (Another tablet is in the Staatliche Museum in Berlin.)

Visitor Information for the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Location:
Topkapi Palace (to the right of and behind St. Irene), Gülhane Park, Istanbul, Turkey

Phone:
0212/520-7740

Hours:
Tues-Sun 9am-5pm (but can vary – check ahead of time)

Cost:
$3.50; includes the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the Çinili Kösk

More Information on the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

• Istanbul Archaeology Museum – Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Cultural & Museums archaeology, byzantine, Egyptian, Galata, galata tower, greek, hippodrome, Islamic, Ministry, ministry of culture, monument, Mosaic, Roman, Topkapi, topkapi palace, works of art

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Above: view of the Istanbul Mosaic Museum (© Tim Spalding) and mosaic detail.

In 1933 excavators discovered a series of mosaics below what is now the Arasta Bazaar, identified as the floor of a peristyle courtyard (open court with porticos) of Constantine’s Great Palace.

After more mosaics were unearthed in the 1950s, only then did the city fully grasp the scope of the find, and much to the chagrin of the owners of 16 of the shops, a museum was built to enclose the site.

Although the collection is not as momentous as that of the Chora, this museum is worth an hour of your time, representing an earlier artistic era absent of religious motifs, showing instead hunting scenes and scenes from mythology.

Location:
Entrance at Torun Sok. Across from the entrance to the Sultanahmet Palace Hotel; accessible through Arasta Bazaar to the southeast of Blue Mosque.

Phone:
0212/518-1205

Hours:
Tues-Sun 9am-4:30pm

Cost:
Admission $2

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale

In the northwest tower of the Selimiye Barracks is a moving tribute to the formidable Englishwoman Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), who in 1854 gathered a group of 38 women and set up a hospital in Istanbul to nurse thousands of Turkish and allied soldiers wounded during the Crimean War – inventing modern nursing practice along the way. The museum contains her photographs and medallions, gifts from Sultan Abdül Mecit, and the lamp from which she got her nickname, “the Lady of the Lamp”. The vast, forbidding barracks in which the museum is situated were begun in 1828 by Mahmut II to replace an earlier military building constucted by Selim III but burnt down during the revolt that greeted his attempt in 1807–8 to replace the Janissaries (see Military Marches ).

Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari, by Jerry Barrett (died 1906).

Practical Information

Selimiye Kışlası, Çeşme-i-Kebir Cad (0216) 556 81 66 Ferry to Harem Open 9am–4pm daily Free Visitors should fax (0216) 553 10 09 requesting permission to visit, at least 2 days in advance, giving names, nationalities, passport details and contact number

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Next to Beylerbeyi Mosque in Uskudar, this bath, has an extraordinary double-dome design.

Tel: 0216 321 46 83

Beylerbeyi/Üsküdar, Yalıboyu Cad. 70) M W

Activities, Cultural & Museums, Whereist Turkish Hamams asian side, Üsküdar, basichamam, Bath, Hamam, hammam, kese, marble, steam, turkish bath

The unisex Hamam of this 5-star hotel reflects traditional Turkish architecture. The Hamam and sauna are open everyday from 07:00 to 22:00. They are open to women only 07:00-14:00 and to both women and men from 15:00-22:00. For the price of the Hamam, sauna and Jacuzzi facilities please call the Hotel.

The Marmara Taksim
Taksim Meydani Taksim Istanbul 34437
Phone 90 212 251 46 96
Fax 90 212 244 05 09

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The hammam was built in 1533 by architect Sinan next to a mosque at Kasimpasa neighborhood. It has separate sections for both men and women.

Büyük Hamam, built in 1533, is in Kasımpaşa. Built by Sinan the architect, the bath has two separate sections for women and men. Admission fee is 10 YTL for women and 12.5 YTL for men. Getting washed and massage costs 4 YTL. Women section is open from 08.00 am to 20.00 pm. Men section is opened with the morning pray and gets closed at 22.30 pm.
Address: Potinciler St. Next to Büyük Mosque Kasımpaşa

Ph: +90 212 253 42 29

Tel: (212) 253 42 29

e-mail: info@buyukhamam.net
Tel: 0 (212) 253 42 29
Tel2:          0 (212) 238 98 00
Adres:     Potinciler Sokak No:22 KASIMPAŞA / İSTANBUL

www.buyukhamam.net/

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The Harem

An extra ticket is needed to visit the Harem. The tour lasts 30 minutes, and begins at the Carriage Gate.

Before the traveler enters the Harem, it is best if he/she leaves all Hollywood notions of “life in the Harem” at the door. It was not all fun and games for whoever was in there, with the possible exception of Murad III who had 112 children. Suleiman established the institution of the Harem in 1587. Since the Koran forbids the enslaving of Muslims, Christians or Jews, girls were brought in from the outer regions or offered as gifts by visiting dignitaries. They were taught the Turkish language, Islamic customs and all of the arts connected with femininity. The gifted ones were assigned to serve the favorites or better still the Sultan’s mother and the exceptional ones moved up directly to the Sultan. The others remained as servants to their fellow captives.

All were never more than concubine except the wicked Roxelana. She hit the big times when she married Suleiman the Magnificent.

Suleiman, who is known as the wisest leader the world has ever known, must have left his good judgment outside the door when he fell in love with Roxelana. She was beautiful and cunning and she worked her magic so well that she got Suleiman to marry her; no sultan had ever married a concubine. Once she was firmly ensconced as Missus Suleiman, she began to weave her web of intrigue. First, she had Ibrahim Pasha, Suleyman’s boyhood friend and Grand Vizier murdered, and that was only the beginning. In 1553, she had his heirs Mustafa and Beyazid assassinated so her son Selim known as Selim the Sot (the drunk) would inherit the throne. She kept on causing endless trouble, such as advising Suleiman on battle techniques and politics, she who had never left the Harem. It is said that she had a lot to do with bringing the Empire to its end. What is most amazing is that Suleiman remained true to her until his death. It is presumed that she quietly died in her bed. Her son Selim however had a clean if not honorable death; he drowned in his bath after drinking too much champagne.

The Ottoman dynasty did not observe the right of the first-born; the throne was available to any imperial son. When the chosen one ascended the throne, he would first do a serious house cleaning. First, he would uphold the delightful custom of fratricide, (started by Muhammad II around 1453) making sure that all his brothers were disposed of, as in assassinated, just in case one would get the notion that he would like to be the Sultan. When fratricide was abolished, by Muhammad III in1595, the boys were locked up in the gilded cages and sentenced to spend their lives completely removed from the outside world, ending up going crazy or coming out totally unprepared to lead. The other custom, one that was never abolished, was that he would have his father’s concubines drowned in case one would be carrying daddy’s child. One can never be too careful. However, nobody really knows what really happened in the Harem; the last women who left in 1909 refused to divulge any information.

The Harem, meaning Forbidden City in Arabic, consists of three hundred rooms, only twenty are on display. The Harem is divided in three sections.

First section:

The Outer quarters of the Black Eunuchs, charged with guarding the Harem, and their living quarters.

Second section:

The Stone Courtyard of the Concubines: Unheated and often unsanitary, housing at one time up to 800 concubines.

Third section:

The Apartment of the Sultan’s Mother or the Valide Sultan; in sharp contrast with the concubines quarters the Apartment of the Sultan’s Mother is very luxurious. It consists of a bedroom, a dining room, a room for prayer and an office. Each room done in opulent fashion decorated with ivory, gold leaf, stained glass and mother of pearl.

The Sultan’s Private Bath; equipped with a guarded mesh gate so the Sultan could relax without the fear of being assassinated.

The Sultan’s Apartment and the Imperial Reception Hall

Private Chamber of Murad III: Decorated with blue Iznik with red highlights, a process never duplicated.

The Cage; possibly the world’s most luxurious jail cell where the Sultan’s sons, except for the one who was due to inherit the throne, were kept in utter luxury to eventually, go crazy, die, or be let out completely ignorant of what went on in the outside world.

The Courtyard of the Favorites; a lovely building facing the sea whose upper floor apartments were reserved for the Sultan’s favorite people.

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The best-known sultan is probably Suleyman the Magnificent, who expanded the empire in bounds and came close to capturing Vienna in the 16th century. History shows contrary sides of Suleyman. A Venetian envoy described him as “by nature melancholy, much addicted to women, liberal, proud, hasty, and yet sometimes very gentle.” He wrote love poetry under the pen name Muhibbi and remained devoted for many years to a Ukrainian concubine named Roxelana, whom he married. In one poem, he describes Roxelana, who took the name Hurrem after her conversion to Islam, as “My sheer delight, my revelry, my feast, my torch, my sunshine, my sun in heaven;/My orange, my pomegranate, the flaming candle that lights up my pavilion.” Often called the Lawgiver, Suleyman codified and simplified a complex and confusing array of legal procedures. His code attempted to wipe out discriminatory practices against Christian subjects and eased the draconian punishments against criminals.

But his reign had a dark side as well. Although the killing of rival brothers had long been a practice among sultans, Suleyman executed two of his sons as potential threats and often ordered the slaughter of prisoners after battle. He was a haughty ruler who started the sultanate tradition of refusing to say a single word when foreign ambassadors presented their credentials.

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Turkish scholars seem defensive about the Topkapi harem, mostly because of the titillating and fanciful accounts by ill-informed travelers over the centuries. It is, of course, difficult to break the popular erotic image when historians relate stories of Sultan Murad III passing between two lines of concubines and tossing a handkerchief at the one he fancied for the night. In the late 16th century, Sultan Selim II could choose from 150 concubines guarded by the 18 African eunuchs who ran the harem.

Scholars, however, regard the harem as a vital system of organizing the empire. Although the women were mostly non-Turkish slaves, either offered as gifts by their families or captured, they were well educated and lived in fine apartments with many servants. If they became favorites of the sultan, they wielded influence. If one’s son became sultan, she assumed a powerful position in the palace. Despite their status as slaves, these women had some choice in ordering their future lives. Favorites who failed to produce a son could marry the highest officials of the empire. Those who never became favorites could accept an influential servant’s job in the palace or a proposal of marriage from an outsider.

Topkapi scholars do not know which furnishings fit which rooms of the palace, but the array of carpets and curtains and bedding and cushion covers and tiles in the exhibition offer a hint of the sumptuous life within the mysterious harem. Some featured carpets are known as Lotto and Holbein carpets because carpets with similar patterns appeared in the paintings of Lorenzo Lotto and Hans Holbein the Younger during the 16th century.

The Topkapi Palace employed scores of artisans and was the center of Ottoman art. In 1575, for example, the palace enlisted 898 artisans. According to recent research by Filiz Cagman, they included painters, designers, tile makers, calligraphers, book binders, manuscript illuminators, goldsmiths, engravers, swordsmiths, bow and arrow makers, carpet and textile weavers, armorers, gunsmiths, furriers, ivory craftsmen, musical instrument makers and potters.

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Cultural & Museums, Historical Landmark, Whereist Sultanahmet eunuchs, gold, harem, Islamic, sultan, sultans, topkapi palace, women

Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene is a former Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. It is open as a museum every day except Monday, but requires special permission for admission.
The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It ranks, in fact, as the first church built in Constantinople. Roman emperor Constantine I commissioned the Hagia Irene church in the 4th century. It was burned down during the Nike revolt in 532. Emperor Justinian I had the church restored in 548. It served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia was completed in 537.

Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene is a former Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. It is open as a museum every day except Monday, but requires special permission for admission.

The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It ranks, in fact, as the first church built in Constantinople. Roman emperor Constantine I commissioned the Hagia Irene church in the 4th century. It was burned down during the Nike revolt in 532. Emperor Justinian I had the church restored in 548. It served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia was completed in 537.

Heavily damaged by an earthquake in the 8th century, it dates in its present form largely from the repairs made at that time. The Emperor Constantine V ordered the restorations and had its interior decorated with mosaics and frescoes. Hagia Irene is the only example of a Byzantine church in the city which retains its original atrium. A great cross in the half-dome above the main narthex, where the image of the Theotokos was usually placed in Byzantine tradition, is a unique vestige of the Iconoclastic art. The church was enlarged during the 11th and 12th centuries.

The church measures 100m x 32 m. It has the typical form of a Roman basilica, consisting of a nave and two aisles, divided by columns and pillars. It comprises a main space, a narthex, galleries and an atrium. The dome is 15m wide and 35m high and has twenty windows.
After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II, the church was enclosed inside the Sultan’s Walls. The Janissaries (Ottoman soldiers) used the church as an armoury. It was also used as a warehouse for war booty. During the reign of Sultan Ahmet III (1703-1730) it was converted into a weapon museum.
It was repaired by Field Marshall Ahmed Fethi Pasa in 1846 and became the first Turkish museum. It was used as the Military Museum from 1908 until1978 when it was turned over to the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
Today, the museum serves mainly as a concert hall for classical music performances, due to its extraordinary acoustic characteristics and impressive atmosphere. Most of the concerts of the Istanbul International Music Festival have been held here every summer since 1980.
In 2000, the Turkish haute couture designer Faruk Sarac produced a special show here. A collection of 700 designed pieces inspired by the Ottoman sultans, including the robes of 36 sultans ranging from Osman Gazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire to Sultan Vahdettin, the last sultan, were on display. The show was accompanied by music and the story of the sultans’ lives and demonstrations of Ottoman-era dancing.

The church of the Holy Peace (Hagia Eirene) was built in the fourth century at the place where the old church of the bishop of Byzantium stood before the refoundation of Constantine the Great. The church was destroyed by fire in 532 and then rebuilt. Its present shape goes back to a restoration after an earthquake in 740. The Hagia Eirene formed a complex together with the Hagia Sophia, the Hospital of Sampson in between and some other subsidiary building, and it was served by the same clergy. Though the Hagia Eirene was always one of the greatest churches of Byzantium, it is mentioned rarely by the sources in later times. In the ottoman time it became an armoury and later a military museum.

When Hagia Eirene and Hagia Sophia were destroyed by fire during the Nika Riot in 532, also the Hospital of Sampson burned down, which lay between them, and was subsequently restored by emperor Justinian. Remains of this large building with a colonnaded courtyard were excavated south of Hagia Eirene after World War II. Sampson, its founder, lived probably in the late fourth century and was perhaps a supporter of the heresy of Arianism. The later Byzantine tradition, however, makes him a contemporary of emperor Justinian. The Hospital of Sampson formed a complex together with the Hagia Sophia, Hagia Eirene and some other subsidiary building, and it was served by the same clergy.

Cultural & Museums, Historical Landmark, Whereist Sultanahmet byzantine church, emperor constantine, emperor justinian, hagia irene, hagia sophia, istanbul, Justinian, ottoman, Roman, roman emperor constantine, Synagogue, topkapi palace

Yenikapı Mevlevihane

Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi, is the second dervish lodge the Mevlevi Tariqat brought into existence to follow the Galata Mevlevîhanesi in Istanbul.

The Yenikapı Mevlevihane, a convent founded by the same order outside the city walls on the inner side of the city, is known for the musicians, composers and poets it produced throughout its history. One of the last sultans, Mehmed Reşad V (1909-1918), himself belonged to the Mevlevi order and he had certain additions to this important convent built, including a circular mosque in the Turkish neo-classical style. This large complex of buildings, which should have been carefully preserved, was subjected to ignorant misuse by persons who did not appreciate its value and finally on 3 September 1961 the beautiful and ornate semahane, in which the rituals took place, was burnt down and the most important part of the complex destroyed.

This Mevlevîhane located in the Merkezefendi Mahallesi area, leads those large scaled complexes the tariqat acknowledges as “Âsitâne”.
Both for the vastness of the land it rests and for the diversity of the buildings in its body, it is accepted to be the most comprehensive Mevlevî complex in Istanbul.
This Yenikapı Mevlevîhanesi was built about a hundred years after the Galata Mevlevîhanesi in 1598 by Janissary Chief Khalif Malkoç Mehmet Efendi.

In early 20th century anti-Abdulhamid freedom thoughts were speedily spread among the dervishes.  As a result of this the lodge suffered a major damage by a suspected fire in its stables in 1906.  After having remained so for five years, they began to restore the lodge by the enthroning of Sultan Reşad, who was a Mevlevî himself.
The semahâne (where Mevlevî dervishes perform their whirling dances), şerbethane (sherbet) and the turbeh of the Mevlevîhane which was turned into a student hostel in the first years of the Republic, were completely lost by a fire in 1961.
The timber complex, which was caused to be built by Sultan Reşad and consisting of a masjit, matbah, selamlık (men’s section in a building, opposite for hareem) and dervish cells also suffered from a fire in 1997 and it is also waiting to be restored.

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Map & Directions

Please note! Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi is not at Yenikapı, which is on Sahil Yolu. Instead, it is at Merkez Efendi mahallesi, which is on E-5 motorway and outside the ancient walls (surlar) at Topkapı.

Cultural & Museums, Historical Landmark city walls, dervish, dervishes, freedom thoughts, Galata, khalif, mevlevi, mosque, rituals, semazen, sultans, Yenikapı

An enormous, rough and tumble market selling clothing, household gadgets, seasonal fruit, vegetables, eggs and nuts. This  market is so huge that it the council employs 16 garbage trucks to clean up afterwards. Almost completely free of tourists, this is great opportunity to enjoy the feel of a bustling, weekly Istanbul market. The surrounding streets are filled with delis and butchers selling cured salamis, pastşrma, cheese, yoghurts and honey. Ignore the vendors claiming ‘indirim yok’ (no discounts) and haggle away.
Along Fatih Caddesi just behind the Fatih Mosque on Wednesdays from 5am to 9pm.

The biggest Bazaar in Istanbul; Fatih pazarı is held on Wednesdays on seven avenues and seventeen streets. The number of vendors is 1297 and there are 4811 stands. Moreover, about 2500 peddlers sell their goods at this market. It is very crowded and you can find anything from vegetables to clothing, from flowers to porcelain. The market hosts customers who come from neighboring cities. Products from Bolu, Kastamonu and Thrace are also on display. Some vendors accept credit cards. Most stands selling clothing have changing booths. There are four mosques around the market whose WCs you can use. However, parking is a problem. It is open from 05:00 to 21:00. Sixteen big garbage trucks are in service to clean the market area afterwards.

Fatih Çarsamba Street market is one of the biggest district street markets in Istanbul. Families with low incomes generally prefer to buy their shopping from these street markets. They can buy not only food but also cheaper clothes from these markets and prices are generally cheaper than the shops in the city.

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