Topkapı Palace, Istanbul

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Sultan Mehmet the Ottoman Conqueror built the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul shortly after he conquered the city in the 15th century. The palace was expanded by successive sultans, and remained the sultan’s residence for the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years. It has opulent rooms, fine art collections, and peaceful courtyards, and is one of the highlights of the city. When looking at a map of Topkapi, the palace complex looks immense. The palace has been a museum since 1924. Like many national museums, visitors can easily spend at least a day exploring all of the buildings and grounds. Visitors with less time will have to do what we did–choose a few exhibits to tour and hope to return someday for more.

The palace has four courtyards, each of which is more private than the first. The Imperial Gate leads to the first courtyard, and the twin towers of the Gate of Salutations serve as the entry to the second courtyard of Topkapi Palace. Each of the buildings inside harbors a different type of treasure. For example, the old kitchen houses a wonderful collection of priceless Chinese porcelain and some huge ancient kitchen utensils. The Treasury has exquisite jewels, many of which are embedded in daggars, chainmail, or other weapons of war. The Treasury also has golden thrones encrusted with precious stones and the 86-carat Spoonmaker’s Diamond, the 5th largest in the world, which once adorned the turban of Mehmet IV.

Some of the relics in the Topkapi Palace are harder to authenticate. Among them is a cabinet containing bones from the skull and hands of John the Baptist. The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle has some of the holiest relics of Islam, most of which found their way to Istanbul during the reign of Selim the Grim who conquered both Egypt and Arabia. The most sacred treasure is the mantle once worn by the Prophet Mohammed. A holy man continually chants passages from the Koran night and day over a gold chest containing the mantle. In the same room are hairs from Mohammed, two of his swords, a letter written by him and an impression of his footprint.  Source: kusadasi.tv

The Topkapı Palace (Turkish: Topkapı Sarayı) or in Ottoman Turkish: طوپقپو سرايى, usually spelled “Topkapi” in English) is a palace in Istanbul, Turkey, which was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years of their 624-year reign, from 1465 to 1856.

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The palace was a setting for state occasions and royal entertainments and is a major tourist attraction today, containing the most holy relics of the Muslim world such as the Prophet Muhammed’s cloak and sword. Topkapı Palace is among those monuments belonging to the “Historic Areas of Istanbul”, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and is described in Criterion iv as “the best example(s) of ensembles of palaces of the Ottoman period.”

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Initial construction began in 1459, ordered by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Byzantine Constantinople. The palace is a complex made up of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. At the height of its existence as a royal residence, the palace was home to as many as 4,000 people, formerly covering a larger area with a long shoreline. The complex has been expanded over the centuries, with many renovations such as after the 1509 earthquake and 1665 fire. It held mosques, a hospital, bakeries, and a mint. The name directly translates as “Cannon gate Palace”, from the palace being named after a nearby, now destroyed, gate.

Topkapı Palace gradually lost its importance at the end of the 17th century, as the Sultans preferred to spend more time in their new palaces along the Bosporus. In 1856, Sultan Abdül Mecid I decided to move the court to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace, the first European-style palace in the city. Some functions, such as the imperial treasury, the library, mosque and mint, were retained though.

After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1921, Topkapı Palace was transformed by government decree on April 3, 1924 into a museum of the imperial era. The Topkapı Palace Museum is under the administration of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public today. The complex is guarded by officials of the ministry as well as armed guards of the Turkish military. The palace is full of examples of Ottoman architecture and also contains large collections of porcelain, robes, weapons, shields, armor, Ottoman miniatures, Islamic calligraphic manuscripts and murals, as well as a display of Ottoman treasure and jewelry.

The Greeks made use of their myths to read and understand the world around them. They mixed their mythological tradition making use of their moral concepts and developed some supreme beings to praise.

The life span of the gods organized the foundations for the comprehension of how to live a virtuous life. These myths were passed down through their society’s storytellers like Homer, who wrote the epic poems the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” These works of art are the source of much of our knowledge of the Greek gods , and the beliefs surrounding them.

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The twelve Olympian gods ( they are named after their dwelling place, Mount Olympus) were the best known gods. They ruled after the overthrow of the Titans.

The relationship between ancient Greeks and their gods was based on a fairly easy concept: if men worshipped and made sacrifices towards the gods, then your gods would look favourably upon them in exchange.

The Olympians:

Aphrodite : Goddess of love and beauty . Her son was Eros , the god of love. She is also considered to have kept a watchful eye over sailors.

Apollo : Beautiful god of the light, medicine and music. Apollo represents order, harmony, and civilization

Ares : God of war. He had an affair with Aphrodite, and was father to many kids.

Artemis : Goddess moon, forest, childbirth and the hunt. Although she was associated with childbirth and kids, Artemis was a virgin.

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Athena : Daughter of Zeus and goddess of knowledge and war and also the patron goddess of Athens. Like Artemis , she was a virgin goddess too.

Hades : God of the Underworld.

Hephaestus : God of fire and the forge. Mated to Aphrodite.

Hera : Queen from the Gods, wife of Zeus a, protector of marriage.

Hermes : The messenger of the gods, god of business. He was a very smart child, inventing the lyre using a tortoise’s shell as he was just a baby baby.

Hestia : Goddess of home, symbolized by the hearth which holds the ever-burning flame.

Poseidon : God of the sea and earthquakes. As god of the seas Poseidon held great power, and could calm the waves or create terrible storms. He’d an unreliable temper, and used his powers to generate fear and punishment on people as revenge.

Zeus : King from the Gods, god of the sky, symbolized by the thunderbolt. Because the ruler of the Olympian gods, Zeus held enormous power and almost absolute authority. His role was primarily to watch over the activities of the other gods, and make sure they weren’t exceeding their powers.

The Titans, also called the elder gods, ruled the planet earth before the Olympians overthrew them.
The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus .

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Prometheus : He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and also the gods.

Atlas : Zeus punished him to forever bear the heavens upon his shoulders.

The Convent of Müstair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland's greatest series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes.

Assisi, a medieval city built on a hill, is the birthplace of Saint Francis, closely associated with the work of the Franciscan Order. Its medieval art masterpieces, such as the Basilica of San Francesco and paintings by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto, have made Assisi a fundamental reference point for the development of Italian and European art and architecture.

Construction of the Dujiangyan irrigation system began in the 3rd century B.C. This system still controls the waters of the Minjiang River and distributes it to the fertile farmland of the Chengdu plains. Mount Qingcheng was the birthplace of Taoism, which is celebrated in a series of ancient temples.

Pattadakal, in Karnataka, represents the high point of an eclectic art which, in the 7th and 8th centuries under the Chalukya dynasty, achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern and southern India. An impressive series of nine Hindu temples, as well as a Jain sanctuary, can be seen there. One masterpiece from the group stands out – the Temple of Virupaksha, built c. 740 by Queen Lokamahadevi to commemorate her husband's victory over the kings from the South.

It represents the addition of three Imperial Tombs of the Qing Dynasty in Liaoning to the Ming tombs inscribed in 2000 and 2003. The Three Imperial Tombs of the Qing Dynasty in Liaoning Province include the Yongling Tomb, the Fuling Tomb, and the Zhaoling Tomb, all built in the 17th century. Constructed for the founding emperors of the Qing Dynasty and their ancestors, the tombs follow the precepts of traditional Chinese geomancy and fengshui theory. They feature rich decoration of stone statues and carvings and tiles with dragon motifs, illustrating the development of the funerary architecture of the Qing Dynasty. The three tomb complexes, and their numerous edifices, combine traditions inherited from previous dynasties and new features of Manchu civilization.

The sacred Mount Tai ('shan' means 'mountain') was the object of an imperial cult for nearly 2,000 years, and the artistic masterpieces found there are in perfect harmony with the natural landscape. It has always been a source of inspiration for Chinese artists and scholars and symbolizes ancient Chinese civilizations and beliefs.

A remarkable example of isolated oceanic islands, born of volcanic activity more than 2,000 m under the sea, these islands boast a spectacular topography and are home to numerous endemic species, especially birds.

The grottoes and niches of Longmen contain the largest and most impressive collection of Chinese art of the late Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties (316-907). These works, entirely devoted to the Buddhist religion, represent the high point of Chinese stone carving.

Our Lady of Burgos was begun in the 13th century at the same time as the great cathedrals of the Ile-de-France and was completed in the 15th and 16th centuries. The entire history of Gothic art is summed up in its superb architecture and its unique collection of works of art, including paintings, choir stalls, reredos, tombs and stained-glass windows.