A visitors guide to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The Topkapı Palace (Turkish: Topkapı Sarayı) is an expansive museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. We start our tour at the Gate of Salutation, the grand entrance to the Second courtyard of the fortress.
A walk through the sultans gate and you will notice we are almost entirely alone. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, we will have the palace almost entirely to ourselves — you will never see Topkapi so serene. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Palace served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans.
After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, a government decree dated April 3, 1924 transformed Topkapı into a museum. The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public as of 2021.
NOMAD SKETCHBOOK 