Eski Saray
Eski Saray (Turkish for "Old Palace"), also known as Sarây-ı Atîk-i Âmire, was a palatial building in Constantinople during the period of Ottoman rule, and it was the first such palace built in the city following the conquest of 1453. It was located in the Beyazıt neighborhood of the Fatih district, in an area now housing the main campus of Istanbul University, between the Süleymaniye Mosque and the Bayezid II Mosque.
Construction of the palace commenced shortly after the 1453 conquest, and it was completed in 1458. Although historians of the period such as Doukas and Michael Critobulus stated that it was completed in 1455,[1] the general opinion is that by then various parts such as the harem and mansion were finished, but it was not fully completed until 1458.
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 blue lead that had a perimeter of 12,000 arşın, approximately equivalent to 9 kilometres (5.6 mi).[2]
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.[1]
Later on in his reign, Mehmed II began to build the Topkapı Palace, and when the palace was completed in 1478 he settled there. Although the Sultan lived in the Topkapı Palace, he continued to visit the harem at the Eski Saray on some days of the week. In subsequent years, the palace and its grounds went through numerous changes. In the early 1500s, Sultan Bayezid II built the Bayezid II Mosque partially on the grounds of the palace. Matrakçı Nasuh depicted the palace in miniature, with two walls and residential buildings along the inner wall. In 1540–1541, the Eski Saray was largely destroyed by fire before being rebuilt by Kanuni. After the fire, the Sultan's harem was moved to the Topkapı Palace, but the Sultan's mother, disgraced concubines and women of former Sultans continued to live in the Eski Saray's harem. When the complex of the Süleymaniye Mosque was constructed in 1557, it once again took up part of the Eski Saray's area.
Today no remains of the palace have survived. In the past, former valide sultans were sent to the Eski Saray at the request of current valide sultans if they still lived in the reign of their grandchild, Safiye Sultan being one of them.
References
- ^ a b Denknalbant Çobanoğlu, Ayşe; Ermiş, Ü. Melda; Parlak, Sevgi; Tuncer, Akın (2014). "İstanbul Üniversitesi Merkez Kampüsü'nde Bulunan Taş Eserler – The Architectural Sculptures at the Main Campus of Istanbul University". Sanat Tarihi Yıllığı (in Turkish) (25): 1–46. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020.
- ^ Atsız, Nihal (2011). Evliya Çelebi Seyahatnamesi'nden Seçmeler (in Turkish). Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat. ISBN 978-975-437-850-4.