About this place
Mehmed II began the palace soon after the conquest of 1453, and it remained the centre of Ottoman government until Sultan Abdülmecid moved to Dolmabahçe in 1856. The complex is a sequence of four courtyards with pavilions, the Imperial Council chamber, vast kitchens and a Harem of some 300 rooms. A museum since 1924, it displays imperial treasures, porcelain, weapons, costumes and the Sacred Relics brought from Mecca and Medina.
