Ibrahim Pasha Palace
The Ibrahim Pascha Palace ( İbrahim Paşa Sarayı , also Atmeydanı Sarayı ) is located directly at the old hippodrome ( Atmeydanı ) opposite the Sultan Ahmet Mosque in the heart of old Istanbul
The building history of the palace is unclear. Sources report that it was built in the time of Sultan Bayezid II (1481-1512) and was restored under Sultan Suleyman I in 1521 for his grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha . It is the largest surviving aristocratic palace in Istanbul, which is probably due to the fact that it was built of stone and brick instead of the usual wood, such as the similar palaces that were grouped around the hippodrome and are no longer preserved. The architect Sinan alone has built around 30 palaces.
Its immense size is perhaps also explained by the fact that there was no official seat of the grand vizier before it was built and that the office of the grand vizier was given an unprecedented level of power in the early 16th century. After Ibrahim Pasha's death in 1536, the palace remained the administrative residence of a number of grand viziers, Beylerbeys , admirals and silahdare for two and a half centuries , some of whom were married into the imperial family. The palace was also used as the Acemioğlanları Janissary School, from the late 18th century as the registry of the tax authorities ( Defterhane ), and as the headquarters of the imperial military band ( Mehterhane ), then as a mental hospital, lion enclosure, textile manufacturer and prison. The dynamic use of the building is a reflection of the decay, which despite the restorations by the architects Sinan († 1588), Hasan Ağa and Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa († 1622) as well as repairs after the violent fires of 1652, 1660, 1755 and 1808 and the severe earthquake of 1675 was unstoppable.
After repairs between 1966 and 1983, the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art is now housed in the palace. Nothing has been preserved from the original interior.
The palace stretched about 140 meters along the hippodrome and reached a depth of 50 to 75 meters. The rooms are grouped around four courtyards on different levels. Some of the raised terraces of the seraglio lie on top of the former ruined rows of seats of the hippodrome. Due to its location, the palace was often used as an inn for the sultan's family from the 16th to the 18th century when festivities and magnificent processions were held on the hippodrome. For example at the 15-day wedding celebrations of Ibrahim Pasha with Süleyman's I sister Hadice Sultan in 1524, at the day-long circumcision celebrations of the princes and other festivities of the sultan's family.
Web links
- Description of the structure on archnet.org with pictures. Visited on April 15, 2008
- Floor plan and elevation in the photo gallery on archnet.org Visited April 15, 2008
Coordinates: 41 ° 0 '22.68 " N , 28 ° 58' 28.42" E