Why
Topkapi Palace
in Istanbul is special

The sprawling Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) is today a world-class museum displaying accumulated treasures of the sultans.

---

Topkapi Palace
tips & insights

---

Sultans

In the 15th to 19th Centuries, the Sultans lived in and ruled the vast Ottoman Empire from the Topkapi Palace. Thousands of bureaucrats teemed within its walls.

---

Strategic location

The Topkapi Palace site was militarily strategic – it stands on a formidable bluff overlooking the vital shipping lanes on the Bosphorus, Golden Horn and Sea of Marmara.

---

From its walls of Topkapi Palace...

You can see the continents of both Asia and Europe.

---

Treasures

The treasures of the Sultan are still mostly intact because Topkapi Palace was never plundered by enemy armies.

---

Treasury Room

It displays up-close one of the world's largest diamonds, the 86-carat Spoon Maker.

---

Harem

Its rooms are among the most interesting tourist attractions in Topkapi Palace. The Sultan's wives and eunuchs hatched intriguing plots to boost or destroy a son's chances of succeeding the Sultan.

---

World's Top 100 Wonders

World's Top 1000 Wonders

Site map

---

---

Explore my
candid country, region
and other travel guides
Click links for tips & insights

©2012 HQP - Hillman Quality Publications / hillmanwonders.com