Why
Topkapi Palace
in Istanbul is special

The sprawling Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) is today a world-class museum displaying accumulated treasures of the sultans.

Topkapi Palace
tips and insights

Sultans

In the 15th to 19th Centuries, the Sultans lived in and ruled the vast Ottoman Empire from the Topkapi Palace. Thousands of bureaucrats teemed within its walls.

Strategic location

The Topkapi Palace site was militarily strategic – it stands on a formidable bluff overlooking the vital shipping lanes on the Bosphorus, Golden Horn and Sea of Marmara.

From its walls of Topkapi Palace...

You can see the continents of both Asia and Europe.

Treasures

The treasures of the Sultan are still mostly intact because Topkapi Palace was never plundered by enemy armies.

Treasury Room

It displays up-close one of the world's largest diamonds, the 86-carat Spoon Maker.

Harem

Its rooms are among the most interesting tourist attractions in Topkapi Palace. The Sultan's wives and eunuchs hatched intriguing plots to boost or destroy a son's chances of succeeding the Sultan.

Location in Turkey

More Turkey tips and insights

In Istanbul

Basilica Cistern
Blue Mosque
Dolmabahce Palace
Grand Bazaar
Hagia Sophia
Topkapi Palace

In other Turkey areas

Antalya
Bodrum
Cappadocia
Divrigi
Ephesus Ruins
Hierapolis
Mount Ararat
Nemrut Dagi
Pamukkale
Pergamon Acropolis
Ruins of Troy

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