Topkapi Palace

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The Courtyard of the Valide Sultan

The Harem is not the stuff of Hollywood legend but rather the private apartments  of the Sultan and his family, and up to 1000 concubines!  The odd therefore of attracting the attention of the Sultan or his mother were not good.

The women of the Harem were slaves from all corners of the Ottoman Empire.  Most never rose beyond the service of their more favoured peers 

Some who bore the Sultan a son would become wives.  However the apartments of the First Wife are not nearly as grand as those of the Favourite Concubine.  All are insignificant when compared to those of his mother whose courtyard this is.

 
We enter via the tradesmen's entrance passing through the quarters of the Black Eunuchs,  who  guarded and waited on the women of the Harem.  An interloper would have to  evade some 200 of them to reach this Courtyard of the Concubines.  The apartments of the favourites are above the portico.
The Paired Pavilion. Twin apartments, built in the 17th century for the Crown Prince.
Magnificently decorated  with paintings of fruit and flowers the 18th century Dining Room of Ahmed 111, is also known as the Fruit Room.
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