Topkapı Palace attracts 60,000 visitors after restoration

ISTANBUL

After the closed sections of Topkapı Palace have been opened to visitors, 60,000 people have visited the palace in three days.

The opening of five sections of Topkapı Palace, which have been under restoration for nine years, was welcomed with great interest. The Department of Sacred Relics in the Enderun Courtyard of Topkapı Palace was reorganized. Fatih Pavilion, Seferli Ward and Treasury Ward were also opened after nine years.

In addition, Mecidiye Pavilion met with visitors after 165 years. At the same time, the palace has already reached a record number of visitors as a result of the works in which hundreds of artifacts in the palace treasury kept in warehouses were restored and brought to light.

Giving information about the restoration works, Director of National Palaces Dr. Yasin Yıldız stated that the number of visitors the palace had in three days usually happens around the peak season like July or August.

In the Fatih Pavilion, which consists of four sections, 1,150 pieces from the Ottoman treasury are exhibited, such as the items personally used by Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Yavuz Sultan Selim and Suleiman I, also known as Suleiman the Magnificent.

The two solid gold candlesticks sent to the Prophet Muhammad’s tomb and the most precious piece of the treasure, the Spoonmaker’s Diamond, attracted the attention of visitors the most.

The Seferli Ward, which belonged to the sultan’s wardens responsible for washing the sultan’s clothes during wars and campaigns in the Ottoman period, was transformed into the Elbise-i Hümayun Gallery based on its historical meaning.

Among the 275 artifacts in the gallery, which reveals the richness of the dynasty’s fabrics and clothes, the most popular are the talismanic shirts.

Expressing his pride in uncovering the history lying in the warehouses, Yıldız underlined the variety of artifacts exhibited in the Fatih Pavilion has tripled.

Mentioning that the problems in the structure were also corrected, Yıldız said that the buildings were reinforced with steel cables from inside and outside, and the 500 tons of concrete load added to the domes in the 1940s was removed from the area and Topkapı Palace was restored to its original structures.