Pera Palace, Beyoglu, Istanbul

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Agata Christie, Anatolia, Ataturk, Bosphorus, Constantinople, Galata, Hotel, Istanbul, Orient Express, Pera, Sultan, Turkey

Thinking of Istanbul, I am remembering my frequent visits there and the wedding of Friends at the Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus and their stay of the Pera Palace Hotel built in 1892 exclusively to house the passengers of the Orient Express. Room 411 is a museum to Agatha Christie, she stayed at the hotel and wrote her mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express. The number of famous people who at one time stayed at the Pera Palace is far to long to list, it defies the imagination. The hotel was beautifully restored to its original splendour just a few years ago. It is fun just to go to the bar and have a drink and think of all those people or have dinner in the restaurant, it has a charm and atmosphere all its own. I am currently reading the book of Charles King, Midnight at the Pera Palace, who gives a good description of Istanbul at the time and its history after 1919 and the fall of the Empire and the rise of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a real page turner.

However after the fall of the Empire in 1921 and the emergence of the Republican government in Turkey, the Pera Palace fell on hard times and the new owner a Lebanese Arab who had acquired the new Turkish Nationality tried to maintain its standards but the Orient Express no longer travelled to Istanbul and the affluent clientele was rare. The Capital of the Turkish Republic had also moved to Ankara in the 1923. When I first visited the Pera Palace Hotel in 1995 it was a dusty old place with too many ghosts. It was no longer a luxury hotel but more a decent three star hotel, the decor had not changed, no but it was worn out. Since the neighbourhood of Pera or Beyoglu and the city have seen many changes for the better.

In the book Monsieur Poirot stays not at the Pera Palace but at the Tokatlian Hotel on the Grande Rue de Pera nowadays called Istiklal street. Unfortunately the Tokatlian no longer exist, the last news in 2011 mentioned that the hotel was in a state of ruin. It was the hotel of the high society in Istanbul for a very long time. Nonetheless many foreign government still keep Consulates, formerly Embassies, some are quite grand in architecture and decor. Istiklal is a very nice street to walk.

 

Renovated and re-opened Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul

The old tram line on Istiklal street in Winter

The Suleymaniye Camii across the Golden Horn from Galata built in 1550 by Sinan for Suleiman the Magnificent. It is the largest mosque in Istanbul.

Visiting the old Imperial Mosques in the City is also very interesting because of their architecture, decorations and park settings. Each Sultan upon ascending the Imperial Throne would have a Camii (mosque) built. Note how they all follow the model of Hagia Sophia and this style is known as Ottoman Imperial style with its pencil like minarets. The old Ottoman cemeteries are fascinating, each tombstone indicates the rank of the person buried, or in the case of women carved stone bouquet of flowers indicates how many children she had. There are also the larger Mausoleum for the Sultan and his family members.

The mausoleum of Suleiman the Magnificent and his family, tombs are surmounted by White elaborate Turbans the Sultan would have worn and indicates his rank as a Sovereign.

Eyup Cemetery, is famous, the mosque of Eyup (Job) is considered to be the third most Holy Site in Islam after Mecca and Jerusalem. It is said to be the burial site of Eyup Ensari the friend and Standard bearer of the Prophet Mohamed, many devout Muslims pray here. There are many elaborate tombstones indicating the rank and attributes of those buried here, all have a different shape hats, turbans or fez which in life would indicate their social rank.

Coming back down the Golden Horn and following the Bosphorus we come to the Ciragan Palace built around 1867 was to have a rather sad story, the first inhabitant was Sultan Abdulaziz who did not live there very long, he was found dead one morning in 1876, just a few days after having been deposed by his brother Murad V who did not reign long for reason of mental illness. Murad was imprisoned in this opulent palace jail until his death in 1904 by his brother Sultan Abdulhamid II. A fire damaged the interior of the Palace in 1909 and with the end of the Ottoman Empire it was abandoned. Today the Palace has been restored and is operated by Kempinski as a  five star luxury hotel.

Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorus with its Sea Gate.

What I enjoyed was simply walking and looking around the City and its monuments, its old streets, the history and its secrets. Turkish people are charming and courteous. There is a certain elegance to this old city, though my last visit was many years ago, I wonder how I would find it now. But I also have to tell you about Yildiz and Dolmabache and Ortakoy one of my favourite spots in Istanbul.

Topkapi Sarayi

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Harem, Istanbul, Kumkapi, Ottoman, Topkapi, Turkey

The charm of Istanbul is the many little streets, the architecture of the City, its monuments, neighbourhoods and history. Once you have visited the Hagia Sophia behind the church is the Imperial Gate, entrance way to the Topkapi Sarayi (Palace), this was the Residence of the Ottoman Sultan from 1462 to 1856 when the Sultan moved to a European Baroque style Palace known as Dolma Bahce on the Bosphorus, which will be the Residence of the Sovereign until 1922, in both cases the Palaces are opulent and luxurious, far more so than any Palace I have ever seen elsewhere in the World.

The Imperial Gate and the calligraphy above the door.

Sultanahmet is the old walled city, the flavour of the old city is everywhere in the stones and streets. This old neighbourhood has stories to tell, you simply have to look around to discover them. There are lots of good restaurants, fish and meat dishes, many sweets. I remember walking to Kumkapi, which is a neighbourhood by the giant city walls, many fish restaurants in that area, nothing fancy but lots of fun.

One place a friend and I went in was typically Turkish, the fish was on display and you pointed at what you wanted and asked how much it was, the weight and name of the fish determines the price, it is then prepared for you as you wish, usually grilled served with lemon is how I like it, some french fries or a small salad. At a corner table was a group of 4 men in badly cut black suits, they looked like killers and made me nervous. No one else in this small restaurants paid them no attention, it was probably ok then. Suddenly they pull out musical instruments and start playing old Turkish tunes. So they were musicians and entertained us with lively Oriental music. This small restaurant certainly had lots of atmosphere and the food was good. We walked back to our hotel in semi-darkness in very quiet streets. Istanbul certainly has lots of atmosphere.

Now to return to our topic of the Topkapi Palace, once inside the Imperial Gate you are in a very large courtyard, to your left is a Church Hagia Irene or Holy Peace, no longer in use, this first courtyard of the Palace was open to all Citizens to come and leave a petition for the Sultan or the Grand Vizier, it was a great meeting place. In this large area is also the Polo Pavilion where the Sultan could watch matches, you will note that much of the architecture is similar to what you see in Persia. The influence comes from the Seljuk Dynasty of Persia (Iran) a Turkic people in origin. When the Turks came to finally settle into Anatolia it was the end of their long migration from Central Asia over many centuries.

The next gate of the Topkapi Palace complex has two towers, it is the main gate into the walled Palace area and was reserved for Ambassadors, Ministers (Viziers) and the Grand Vizier and other functionaries. 

This is the Divan Courtyard a semi-public space. This is where all the affairs of the empire were carried out. Buildings in this courtyard serve administrative and general purposes. The Sultans would appear here only two times in a year, during the religious festivals. The funeral ceremonies and accession rituals took place here. This courtyard is enormous with the sizes of 130 metres length and 110 metres width. The Imperial Council Hall (Divan) where viziers of the Sultan gathered for meetings is over-looking gardens. In the Divan Courtyard is also located the Harem buildings for all the wives and children of the Sultan. They are exquisite rooms of great luxury, but a gilded cage since the occupants very rarely left this area. All paths reach to the Gate of Felicity (Bab-üs Saadet) that gives access to the Third Courtyard. Which was most private and was reserved for the Sultan and his family. No one else was allowed to enter this gate.

What is interesting about the Topkapi Palace is how it is very similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing in the lay out of progressive gates, courtyards and gardens.

Click on image to enlarge

It takes a long time to visit this palace and its grounds, you have to understand how it all functioned, it was a family home for the Sultan, it was also a business centre for the subjects who came to present petitions and seek solutions to their problems, it was government administration centre for a vast Empire, it was the seat of the Executive and Council Chambers, including the execution ground for Viziers who no longer pleased the Sultan, heads will roll! literally in the case of Topkapi, it was also a treasury with fabulous treasures in precious gems and gold and finally it was a nursery for the children and wives of the Sultan in the Harem, the proverbial gilded cage.  The Harem though may bring up ideas of sensual and luxurious pleasure, was also a terrible place, where deadly rivalry took place amongst the wives of the Sultan all of it governed by his mother.

The position was perhaps the most important in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition (“A mother’s right is God’s right”), the valide sultan would have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son’s) and state staff.

Again was is interesting about this system is how similar it is the Chinese Imperial System or the Mongol one. This is not so surprising given that the Turks came from Asia and brought with them their Asiatic traditions.

Some photos of the Harem of the Topkapi Palace. Click on photo to enlarge.

 

The small pavilion for the breakfast of the Sultan in the Harem, the view of Istanbul is beautiful from that spot.

Istanbul or Constantinople

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Constantinople, Istanbul, Justinian, Mehmet II, Ottoman, Sultanahmet, Turkey, Turkiye

Many decades ago a movie called Midnight Express (1978) made a bit of a splash, it was the story, a true story we were told, of an American tourist Billy Hayes who spent some time in jail in Turkey for drug smuggling. Some 30 years later the truth came out and the protagonist of the movie confessed that he had in fact dealt drugs and was guilty as charged and he invented a fanciful story for a movie and book deal to make money. At the time Turkey got a black eye out of it, the country was seen as corrupt and dangerous, not a place to go to and it fuelled all the usually silly story from uninformed tourists about any and all countries they might travel to including innocuous Liechtenstein.

I travelled to Istanbul for the first time for my 40th birthday and spent a week there. I was living in Jordan at the time and it was an easy direct flight a little over two hours. The weather was cold being March but Istanbul has the most spectacular geographic location in the world. With the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus at the border of Asia and Europe, it is magical. Istanbul the former Imperial Capital of the Ottoman Empire and before that known as Constantinople, the New Rome of Emperor Constantine, a city that was created for greatness from the beginning, it is reflected in its architecture and history. Turkey is an ancient country with a rich culture and history full of exoticism. As a diplomat I always wanted to be accredited to the Sublime Porte, though the Turkish Foreign Ministry is no longer known as that since 1923.

La Sublime Porte (today)

Porte is French for “gate”. When Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed an alliance with King Francis I of France in 1536, the French diplomats walked through the monumental gate or Bab-ı Ali in order to reach the Vizierate of Constantinople, seat of the Sultan’s government. French being the language of diplomacy, the French translation Sublime Porte (the adjective being unusually placed ahead of the word to emphasize its importance) was soon adopted in most other European languages, including English, to refer not only to the actual gate but as a metaphor for the Ottoman Empire.

The particular term was used in the context of diplomacy by Western States, as their diplomats were received at the Porte. During the second constitutional era of the Empire after 1908, the functions of the classical Divan-ı Hümayun were replaced by the reformed Imperial Government, and “porte” came to refer to the Foreign Ministry. During this period, the office of the Grand Vizier came to refer to the equivalent to that of a Prime Minister, and viziers became members of the Grand Vizier’s cabinet as government ministers.

King Francis I of France and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent

Istanbul as a former capital has a lot to offer and much to visit, art, culture and good restaurants. I remember staying and walking in the older part of the city, Sultanahmet neighbourhood where you find the Topkapi Palace, the Sultanahmet or Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and numerous museums and of course the Grand Bazaar.

I always chose an hotel in Sultanahmet because it is the neighbourhood to stay in when visiting Istanbul. I stayed on Yerebatan Caddesi because it is central to everything. Istanbul is a huge city, I could either walk of take a taxi to my destinations, however you have to be mindful that car traffic, in this city hugged by the sea on so many fronts, is horrendous in the full sense of the word.

On this first visit some 19 years ago, I visited the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) this great church built by Emperor Justinian in 532 A.D. or C.E. as we say today. This great Cathedral was far larger than the original St-Peter basilica in Rome or the Lateran Cathedral of Rome, it was the first church in all Christendom. In its 1400 year history it was a church, then a Mosque and now a Museum. Its dome is 108 feet in diameter or 33 meters, its crown rises 180 feet or 55 meters above the floor. The building is 270 feet long or 82 meters and 240 long or 72 meters wide. A huge building for its time considering that none of it is steel, all brick and mortar. The architects were Isidore the Elder and Anthemius, it was completed in 6 years. You have to consider that centuries later it would take 100 years to build any great cathedral in Europe.

It is to this day awe inspiring and magnificent to see. The Sultan Mehmet II came to pray here upon entering the city in 1453. He was very impressed with the structure and decreed it be converted into a mosque.

The Hagia Sophia as it looked as a Christian Church (prior to Ottoman additions)

Hagia Sophia as it looks today

The Hagia Sophia has two levels, the ground floor and a gallery above. The presence of the two levels mean that people were organized according to gender and class when services were held at the cathedral. In Hagia Sophia a part of the gallery was used as an imperial lodge, from which the empress and occasionally the emperor attended the services.

The central or Imperial Door was reserved for the use of the emperor and his attendants, and provides the most perfect approach to the interior of the church.

The decorations within the Hagia Sophia at the time of construction were probably very simple, images of crosses for instances. Over time this changed to include a variety of ornate mosaics.

“There are a number of mosaics that have been added over the centuries, imperial portraits, images of the imperial family, images of Christ and different emperors, those have been added since Justinian’s day. Many survived to this day the conversion to a Mosque. The Apse Mosaic in the Hagia Sophia shows the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus.  Dedicated on March 29, 867, it is located 30 meters (almost 100 feet) above the church floor.

In 1453 the Byzantine Empire ended, with Constantinople falling to the armies of Mehmed II, the Ottoman Sultan.

The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for centuries and by 1453 the Hagia Sophia had fallen into disrepair, the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque.

Outside the church, four minarets would eventually be added, these four slender pencil-shaped minarets are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall and are among the tallest ever constructed.

Changes occurred on the inside as well, after the Ottoman conquest the mosaics were hidden under yellow paint with the exception of the Theotokos [Virgin Mary with child] in the apse. In addition Monograms of the four caliphs were put on the pillars flanking the apse and the entrance of the nave.

The style of the Hagia Sophia, in particular its dome, would go on to influence Ottoman architecture, most notably in the development of the Blue Mosque, built in Istanbul during the 17th century.

The Sultanahmet or Blue Mosque. (it is called blue because of the blue tile decoration inside) 

In 1934, the government of Turkey secularized the Hagia Sophia and turned it into a museum. The Turkish Council of Ministers stated that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.

To be continued… 

Some photos of the stunning Christian Mosaics remaining inside the Hagia Sophia. The Ottoman Turks did not destroy the Christian art of the building when it was converted to a Mosque.

Click on photos to enlarge