Museum artifacts hiding in storehouses to be brought into daylight

With the clearance of military warehouses it is hoped that the first section of the new museum will display cars from the late Ottoman era, weaponry and the clothing of the Ottoman sultans. According to İstanbul Culture and Tourism Director Professor Ahmet Emre Bilgili: “Our Topkapı Palace and the surrounding military buildings should not remain storage facilities but should instead be developed for the exhibition of historical art and relics. Once plans to take over these buildings have been finalized and approved, there is a great possibility that in a short period of time this storage space will be used for exhibitions, the first of which will display cars of the sultans, weaponry and the clothing of the Ottoman sultans.”

Bilgili made it clear that the buildings in the palace area and the organization of such will fall under the ambit of ministerial control. “Topkapı will become an international exhibition space,” he said.

Some of the antiques that have been preserved include vehicles previously owned by sultans such as the armored carriage that transported the mother of Sultan Abdülaziz, Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, and the carriage that transported Sultan Abdülhamit II to Vienna. A goblet belonging to the latter will also be included and in the warfare section. A series of previously unseen war paraphernalia, including swords, daggers, sheaths, helmets, arrows, bows and guns, will be on display.

Garments worn by the princes and sultans of the Ottoman era will also have a place in the museum, with exhibits including different styles of velvet clothing, serasers (a silken cloth stitched with jewels of gold and silver) and woolen clothes and shawls. With discussions completed over how to use the 19 military warehouses, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has transferred the use of the buildings from the Ministry of Defense. Now under the remit of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the hope is that the museum will be ready in three months.

On the subject of the soon-to-be “Saray Museum,” Bilgili said: “Parts of Topkapı have been behind closed doors as they have been used for storage; however, this will all be opened to the public. Our aim is that all the artifacts in the palace area will soon be on exhibition. Due to the fact that these valuable buildings were being used for mass storage there was insufficient room for display. Now with the addition of the 19 buildings, the new plans will make it possible for these to be used for tourism purposes and for all artifacts and historic relics to be put on exhibition.”

Bilgili, who noted that they were buying land in İstanbul’s Beylikdüzü district as part of the project to house the artwork being kept in the storage rooms of İstanbul’s museums, said: “We have opened a tender for the Beylikdüzü Museum Storage Project. They are currently planning the details of the project. This new place will host all the artwork in the storage rooms of all the museums in İstanbul. The Archeology Museum and the Topkapı Palace Museum will not have any storage rooms in the future. Every inch of these historic edifices will be used as an exhibition area. We will remove all the artwork in warehouses and storage rooms and turn these areas into exhibit halls.”

 Sur-i Sultani (Wall of the Sultan)

Topkapı Palace was built in 1478 on the orders of Sultan Fatih Sultan Mehmet. The palace served as the administrative center for the Ottoman state and the primary residence of the sultans for 380 years until Dolmabahçe Palace was built during the time of Sultan Abdülmecid. Topkapı Palace is built in an area called Zeytinlik, located on the top of the first of İstanbul’s seven hills. It is surrounded by a 1,400-meter-long city wall called the Sur-i Sultani, or the Wall of the Sultan. This wall is also known as the Topkapı Wall. It was built in a position so as to protect the city against invasions by land. The Sur-i Sultani wall used to have 28 towers, 25 of which were four-cornered, but these have not survived. The Otluk Gate, located on the side of the wall that faces the Sea of Marmara; and the Demirkapı Gate, which is located on the Haliç (Golden Horn) side; along with the Bab-ı Hümayun Gate, right behind Hagia Sophia, are the main city entrances, along with five other smaller gates.