Topkapı Palace
Museum Istanbul
The house of felicity
The most beautiful and best-known of all Istanbul’s sights, Topkapi is the place overlooking
Bosporus where the sultans made their homes and supervised government during the glory
days of the Ottoman Empire ; it is here more than anywhere else in the city that you will feel the ghosts of the Imperial past brushing up against you.
A collection of kiosks and pavilions set in delightful gardens sit alongside the harem, the private quarters of the sultan’s family and the source of much western fantasizing. Here too stands Hagia Eirene (Divine Palace) , partner to the emperor Justinian’s great mosque of Hagia Sophia (Divine Wisdom)
Map of Topkapi Palace Istanbul
Topkapı Palace was constructed between 1460 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror
Palace served as the home of the Ottoman sultans and their court until the middle of the 19th century.
Photos of Topkapi Palace Istanbul
– Museum Information:
Museum is open everyday except Tuesdays. Museum is also closed at first days of the religious festive days until afternoon.
– Baby Cars:
Exhibiton hall is not visited with baby car. Please don’t forget this rule before buy a ticket.
– Sacred Relics Department:
We ask that you refrain from entering the Sacred Relics Department with shorts, mini-skirts, tank tops, or strapless clothing.
– Harem Section:
If you want to visit Harem you have to buy a seperate ticket from the ticket booths where stands outside of the museum or in front of the Harem entrance. Ticket Price for one person for the Harem entrance is 25 TL.
– Hagia Irene:
Hagia Irene Church, which is located at first courtyard of The Topkapi Palace, is opened to visit for visitors. The Hagia Irene Church can be visited as individual visitor from now on. Ticket Price is 20 TL for one person.
– Photo Shooting:
Please, do not take photo inside the exhibition halls in which contains/displays objects for avoid interrupting other visitors’ tour and avoid harm objects with flashlight
Just around the corner from Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace has a spectacular location high on the First Hill of the Byzantine city overlooking the confluence of the Golden Horn, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus.
This is where the Byzantine emperors had also chosen to site their palace, which reflects the Ottomans desire to be seen as stepping into the shoes of a line of rulers stretching back to the Romans. Despite its much later date, the high wall that surrounds the palace and stretches from Cankurtaran to Sirkeci looks very similar to the great Theodosian land walls that enclosed the Byzantine city; the area inside it corresponds very closely to what would have been the extent of the original Byzantium.
Parts of the palace gardens now form Gulhane Park, while parts are occupied by Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Some of the grounds were lost long ago to the railway line from Greece, leaving the pretty little Sepetciler Kasr stranded on its own by the waterside.
As you approach the palace you should rid your mind of the idea of a single building usually evoked by the word. Instead the Ottomans, like the Byzantines before them, lived in a collection of relatively small buildings scattered about extensive gardens which were added to as and when the need arose. By the time the sultans abandoned it the Topkapi complex consisted of four courtyards, a set of gardens and terraces, and the labyrinthine harem. It continued in use until 1856 when Sultan Abdulmecid I chose to move across the Bosphorus and base himself in the brand-new Dolmabahce Palace.
His successors also preferred to live in Dolmabahce, Yildiz Palace, and a series of more minor palaces dotted around their estates. Just as the Old Palace at Beyazit had become a retirement home for redundant palace women after the sultans took up residence in Topkapi, so Topkapi itself served a similar function after the sultans relocated across the Bosporus. It has been a museum since 1926.
Admission
Online Ticket
Online-ticket service can be reached now by this link: https://www.muze.gov.tr/buy_e_ticket. (link is external)
Museum Pass
In order to obtain and get more information about museum pass card visit this website: https://muze.gov.tr/buy_museum_pass (link is external)
Museum Ticket : 40 TL
Ticket Price for one person for the main entrance is 40 TL except Harem Section
Harem and Halberdiers with Tresses Dormitory Ticket : 25 TL
If you want to visit Harem and Halberdiers with Tresses Dormitory Ticket you have to buy a seperate ticket from the ticket booths where stands outside of the museum or in front of the Harem entrance.
Ticket Price for one person for the Harem and Halberdiers with Tresses Dormitory Ticket entrance is 25 TL.
Hagia Irene Ticket: 20 TL
Museum Pass is available at Hagia Irene
No group discount at Hagia Irene
Ticket for the Hagia Irene is not available for entering to the Topkapı Palace Museum
Free Admission / ID is a Must
• Turkish children and teenagers 18 years old or younger and teachers accompanying students group at these ages
• Foreign children 12 years or younger except Harem. For the Harem under 6 and younger.
• Citizens of the Turkish Republic 65 years old or older
• Veteran’s spouses, children and their father and mother with the veteran’s accompany. And Martyr’s Relative ID holders
• Turkish and Foreign Handicapped people with one attendant. (with a visible handicap or a document submission)
• Soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
• Owners of ICOMOS, UNESCO and ICOM cards.
• Owners of domestic and foreign Press Card.
• Owners or responsible directors of travel agencies
• Personnel and pensioners of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and spouses, children mother and father by their accompanion
• Foreign children 12 years or younger.
Can enter to the Topkapı Palace Museum without price
• Children between 0-6 ages,can enter to the Harem, Hagia Irene and Halberdier’s with Tresses Section of the Topkapı Palace without price with their accompanion who bought ticket
Free visits of the groups that mentioned before can be with a paper of permission obtained from the Central Directorate of Revolving Funds
• By hosting of the Public Institutions of the Republic of Turkey with their own budget, official delegations above the rank of Deputy Minister, official military delegations above the rank of Force Commander, their spouses, accompanions, security officials, and delegations of prior review with security purposes, and officials of the Republic of Turkey that accompanying them.
• Except in scope of supporting International Congress Organizations and only city tour or/and transfer hostings, the guests and delegations who hosted by Head of Department of Foreign Relations and EU,General Directorate of Promotion of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Culture and Promotion Attache and Adviser Offices (Regulatory approval concerning the host will be attached to the paper of demand)
• Media groups and their accompanions which are being hosted by General Directorate of Promotion of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Culture and Promotion Attache and Adviser Offices (Regulatory approval concerning the host will be attached to the paper of demand)
•Foreign tour operators and ino groups which have been informed by Union of Travel Association Agencies of Turkey
• Attendees to the activities which provide benefit to promotion of the Museum which organized by Governorates, Province Culture and Tourism Directorate or/and Museum Directorate
Accepted payment methods
The museum ticket windows accept payment in cash or by credit card
