Museum displays Prophet Muhammad's personal belongings

By K. Basrie

ISTANBUL (JP): One of the must-see places of interest in this historic city is the 530-year-old Topkapi Palace museum, where priceless objects, including personal belongings of Prophet Muhammad, are on display.

Located next to Ayasofyq (Hagia Sophia) mosque, the museum is home to superb works of art and precious jeweled artifacts once owned by sultans of the Ottoman Empire who resided in and ruled from the imperial palace for about 400 years.

"This palace reflects the heart, the brain and the very center of the empire," a tour guide said.

Many visitors, particularly Moslems, see the palace as a museum with few rivals.

"I almost couldn't believe it when I found out that this palace-turned-museum also has the Prophet's beard and tooth," said Bob Pyramid, a visitor from Indonesia.

Built over 13 years, from 1465 until 1478, under the initiative of Sultan Mehmet II, Topkapi is now billed as the oldest and largest of the remaining palaces in the world.

Just for comparison, Indonesia's Bogor Palace, one of the oldest remaining palaces in the world, was built in 1795.

The Topkapi Palace complex, whose main buildings were turned into a museum in 1924, covers an area of 700,000 square meters and is surrounded by five kilometers of high walls, which are fortified with towers.

It is located where the acropolis of Byzantium once stood on the peninsula overlooking the beautiful view of Golden Horn, the Bhosporus and the Sea of Marmara. However, the seaside mansions and pavilions were destroyed by the end of the 19th century.

Objects

The palace has many display sections, depending upon the original functions of the buildings. They include the sections for the Prophet's relics, his caliphs' belongings, objects from the Holy Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the sultans' kitchen utensils, porcelain, glassware, silverware, weapons, attire, portraits, clocks, a library, pavilions and a harem.

The objects include gifts from foreign dignitaries to the sultans, palace-made artifacts, objects from Turkey's conquered lands and those used for bargaining.

Some of them have inscriptions indicating the date they were made and the names of the donors.

The museum's front gate staff allowed any type of cameras, from pocket cameras to handycams, to be brought into the museum. Only television cameras are prohibited and should be left at the entrance gate, one of the staff members said, without giving a clear explanation.

Shortly after entering the museum, you will feel as if you are in a typical Turkish palace. The distinctive element is a series of open courtyards, with trees to provide shade. Each courtyard is connected to one another by monumental gates.

The high wall called Sur-i-Sultani, or the Imperial Wall, has seven gates, four of which face the sea.

Uniformity

As there had been many additions and restorations made during the reign of different sultans, one could see that the buildings have no sense of unity or uniformity.

"It no longer looks the way it did when it was built," said Ipek Saginc, a tourist guide.

Each sultan had his own taste and needs, and the architects had different styles, degrees of quality in workmanship and educational backgrounds.

A number of gold inscription plates on the gates and walls describe some of the additions and annexes. They also bear the signatures of the reigning sultans who built or repaired particular structures of the palace.

Many changes were also made after natural disasters, such as fires and earthquakes.

After passing through the entrance gate, visitors are led to buildings where antique European, Chinese, Japanese and local porcelain is on display.

These buildings originally housed the kitchens where meals for approximately 4,000 palace members were prepared every day.

One of the most interesting sites is where a wide range of metal kitchen utensils, including giant kettles, are displayed.

In the porcelain section, some Chinese celadon porcelain is also on display.

Before entering the second gate, a building on the left houses a very extensive weapons collection of the Topkapi Palace. Among them are shirts of armor -- used by sultans and army leaders -- bearing the names of Islamic religious leaders and verses of the Holy Koran.

Adjacent to this building is the reception room and the tower of justice, where the sultans used to watch meetings.

In the old days, the second gate, called Akagalar, was used for the funerals, coronations and other related ceremonies.

The courtyard inside this gate was a place where the sultans spent a lot of their time.

The buildings on the right display sultans' costumes, including caftans, the sultans' traditional outer garments. All of them are well-preserved.

Next to this building is the treasury section, where precious objects made of gold or silver, as well as jewels and emeralds, are on display.

Dagger

They range from rare table settings, drinking sets, suits of armor, daggers, a royal cradle and thrones to jewel-studded chess sets. Among the highlighted objects are the famous Topkapi dagger, which has four emeralds, and the 86-carat Kasikci diamond, which is surrounded by 49 large diamonds.

According to the museum's guidebook, the dagger, now being used as a symbol of the palace, was originally a gift from Sultan Mahmud I intended for Nadir Shah of Iran. The dagger was returned to the palace before it reached its recipient, shortly after the news of Nadir's assassination broke.

One of the most attractive buildings houses the sacred relics section, where the personal belongings of Prophet Muhammad and objects from the Holy Kaaba are carefully cared for and protected.

The relics were brought to the palace in various ways.

Most of the Prophet's relics, for instance, were brought personally by Caliph El Mutevekkillillah III when he came to Istanbul to transfer the Caliphate to Yavuz Sultan Selim.

Among the relics are the Prophet's mantle, swords, letter, seal, tooth, beard and footprints.

Sultans usually paid a visit to the sacred mantle in a ceremony held on the 15th day of the Ramadhan fasting month.

At this site, there are also swords once owned by Prophet Muhammad's four Caliphs.

The relics of John the Baptist -- hand and arm bones and a skull encased in jewel metal cases -- are also in the showcase in this section.

The next stunning site of the palace might be the Harem, where once as many as 1,200 concubines lived.

The Harem occupies the largest part of the palace. A "harem" -- which means "forbidden" (to enter) -- has its own secrets, legends and rumors.

In short, before planning to visit Topkapi Palace, it's better for foreign tourists to follow the standard procedure: hiring an English-speaking guide who knows the museum's rich history.

Backpack tourists can simply follow a group that hires a guide. But please -- don't follow too close. Otherwise, the group will ask you to share the bill.