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topkapi istanbul<\/p>\nBetween the Golden Horn and the Marmara Sea, with an incredible view of the Bosforo, sits the Topkapi Palace . Built by order of the Sultan Mehmed II a few years after the final collapse of the Byzantium, it was the centre of administration for the Ottoman empire for the following four centuries \u2013 until 1853, and the Christian era, when the Sultan Abdulmecid decreed that the headquarters move to the modern Dolmabah\u00e7e Palace.<\/p>\n
topkapi istanbul<\/p>\n
Today, the Topkapi Palace is a museum dedicated to those far away glory years of the Ottoman Empire, and which houses some of the most magnificent treasures in the world. Visitors who wander the vast and winding spaces are often grateful for a tourist guide to show them the Pearl room for example, which holds the Topkapi head, embellished with precious stones, gold and emeralds \u2013 or the room which displays the famous Indio-Turkish throne from the 18th century.<\/p>\n
But one thing we would advise you not to miss out on is the extraordinary collection of talismanic shirts, made famous recently thanks to the publication in Istanbul of H\u00fclya Tezcan\u2019s Las Camisas M\u00e1gicas del Palacio de Topkapi.<\/p>\n
In Turkish culture, great importance has always been placed on magical practice \u2013 whether aesthetic or ritual \u2013 as a lesson for the future, from coffee, to the summoning of the omnipresent Turkish eye, or nazar to cast curses. Tezcan\u2019s book speaks of the power of the talismanic tops to make the fighter invisible in battle, to protect from evil, to maintain good health and aid fertility. The latter was the case with the powerful Sultana Nurbanu \u2013 worried by the succession to the throne in the Somali house (which governed the Ottoman empire for 700 years) of her son, Murad III. At the time of coronation, Murad only had one son, and 14 years later \u2013 due allegedly to the magical garment, which was lined with verses from the Koran and various astrological signs, the sultan had produced 19 boys.<\/p>\n
In Tuzcan\u2019s opinion, with the restoration of many of the pieces, the clothes \u2013 which were worn by every member of the court \u2013 \u201callow us to evaluate to what extent the superstitions of the Ottoman court affected the politics of the empire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Oilzum Only-apartments AuthorPaul Oilzum<\/p>\n
The Sultan\u2019s shirts required three years of work \u2013 and only at the end were chosen verses from the Koran inscribed. It\u2019ll take you much less time to marvel over them when you rent apartments in Istanbul<\/p>\n