Gülhane Park

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Gülhane Park

The Gülhane Park ( Ottoman گلخانه 'Rosenhaus' ) is a park in the Bosporus metropolis of Istanbul in the Fatih district . It is located within the outer crenellated walls of the Topkapı Palace and occupies the western part of the Seraglio peak. Geologically, the Gülhane Park is located on the slope of Eminönü. The park is well connected to public transport. A little north of Gülhane Park is the Sirkeci train station, Istanbul's terminus.

history

Gülhane Park was once part of the outer garden of Topkapı Palace. Part of the garden was opened to the public by the municipality in 1912. It used to be a place for knightly games and archery competitions, but today it is a wooded public park with live concerts, tea gardens and other typical offers. The outer walls roughly mark the boundaries of ancient Byzantion . Next to the main entrance, the “Gate of the Cold Well” (Soğuk Çeşme Kapısı) , the polygonal “Pavilion of the Festival Elevators ” (Alay Köşkü) is located on a wall tower , through whose window the Sultan controls the movements in front of the high gate opposite , the official seat of his Grand Vizier. Sultan Mahmud II had the pavilion in its current form with its tail roof restored and designed in 1819. The Alay Köşkü replaced a previous building by Sultan Murad III. From here, among other things, the sultans watched the magnificent pageants and parades. The most famous of these were the days or weeks long procession of merchants' associations and craftsmen's guilds, which were held only once or twice in each century. In 1637, for example, 1,109 guilds took part in a procession, which offered colorful displays of their arts on floats and sometimes turned out to be carnival-like . The last such overview of economic life under Mustafa II took place in 1769. On August 8, 1928, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk announced the introduction of the Turkish alphabet with Latin characters on this square . This kiosk has housed the handicrafts and works of art from the Kenen Ozbel collection since 1970 .

Alay Köşkü

In the north of the park is the so-called Gothic column. A pedestal that supports the 15-meter-high monolithic granite column, crowned by a Corinthian capital, rises above three steps . The base bears a Latin inscription, which translates as: "Fortuna, who returns for the sake of the defeated Goths." It commemorates the victory of Ostrom over the Goths . The client of the column is disputed, Constantine the Great would be possible . According to a Byzantine historian, it was crowned by a statue of the legendary founder of the city, Byzas of Megara .

The Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam is located on the western edge of the park in the former stables of Topkapi Palace. The museum was inaugurated in May 2008 by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan . The museum has 140 replicas of inventions from the 8th to 16th centuries. The park has been heavily restored in recent years, the walking routes have been reorganized and the large pool has been renovated in a modern style.

Web links

Commons : Gülhane-Park  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Suraiya Faroqhi: Culture and everyday life in the Ottoman Empire. From the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. Munich 1995, p. 191.
  2. ^ Klaus Kreiser: History of Istanbul . CH Beck, 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-58781-8 , pp. 106 .
  3. ^ Marcell Restle : Reclam's art guide Istanbul, Bursa, Edirne, Iznik. Monuments and museums . Verlag Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1976. p. 351.

Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 44 ″  N , 28 ° 58 ′ 48 ″  E