A Trip to the Harem- JUST Visiting! :-)

Jessica's friend, Lindy, came to visit for a short break between some summer classes, and so we did a little sightseeing this last week. It was a real treat, since we live in one of the oldest continuously-lived-in cities in the world.

One of the first things we did was go to Topkapi Palace to tour the treasury (which was full of really huge emeralds, all kinds of royal gifts, Ming vases, and ancient relics) and the harem. Since we couldn't take pictures of the treasury, and the Harem was the most interesting part anyhow, I wanted to share some pictures from our peek inside the royal Harem inside the palace! I am not exaggerating when I say that we were gasping in amazement at the beauty nearly everywhere we looked as we toured the harem.

In use for hundreds of years, the last of the women left in 1909, just a hundred years ago.

In the entrance to the harem, there was amazing mosaics and tilework:

That section led to where the eunuchs (black African guards for the King's women) would sleep, eat, and guard the harem. This courtyard shows the windows into each individual eunuch's room:

As we walked through, we noticed that there were not (of course) any areas which were accessible to the outside... everything was either well-protected (if it was a courtyard) or completely enclosed, so as to keep the harem women from being spoiled by outsiders. This is a picture of the ceiling (letting in sunlight) as we walked down a hallway.

There were two large mirrors in the transitional hall between the eunuchs quarters and the area where the women lived. One can just imagine all the primping that these mirrors have seen!

A view of the closets and dressing area inside one of the harem rooms... only the most beautiful and intelligent women from the empire were chosen for the King.

Here, you can see a closer view of the closet door design, which was intricately detailed in mother of pearl. We probably saw at least a hundred of these doors throughout the harem... it was so lavishly decorated.

The stained glass in various rooms were absolutely beautiful-- but this one (for me) stole the show-- each one is probably 20-30 feet tall:

Here's another example of the tile artistry we saw throughout the harem:

This was the main living room/salon area of the harem, with plenty of seating for many, many women and their children. Being there, it was so easy to visualize all of the catty conversations and one-upping that must have taken place throughout the centuries of this harem's usage:

And of course, all the windows were barred. Here's a view of Istanbul through the "eyes" of a woman in the harem.