Istanbul's
Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum
(Türk-Islam Eserleri Müzesi),
on the Hippodrome across from the Blue Mosqueu, is a
treasure-house of beautiful objects
from the Ottomann (14th to 20th centuries), Seljuk (11th to 13th
centuries), and earlier periods beginning in the 8th century.
The best art
was religious art during
the Ottoman Empire, just as it was in medieval Europe.
Turkish carpets, illuminated
Kur'ans, calligraphy (at
which the Ottomans excelled), carved and inlaid wood, glass, porcelain
and stone are well displayed. Turkish ethnographic exhibits—a fully-furnished
nomads' tent,
a 19th-century Ottoman parlor,
and others—extend the collection beyond mere beautiful objects shown out
of context.
The museum is
housed in the restored Palace of
Ibrahim Pasha, a sumptuous residence built by
Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent's
Grand Vezir (and intimate friend) Ibrahim Pasha (served
1523-1536). What you see is only part of the original structure, whose
foundations date from about 1500.
Ibrahim Pasha
was such a close friend and confidant of Süleyman's, and had such
influence over the monarch, that the sultan's wife,
Roxelana
(Hürrem)
was worried. When Ibrahim supported the candidacy of Prince Mustafa to
be successor to the throne, rather than that of Roxelana's son Selim,
Roxelana acted.
She denounced Ibrahim to the sultan as a
traitor, and on the night of March 14, 1536, after dining with the
sultan in Topkapi Palace, Ibrahim was strangled, and all his wealth
seized by the imperial government.
One of
Ibrahim's mistakes was in living in a
palace and a
style
that rivaled that of his sovereign.
Rüstem Pasha,
his successor, did not make the same mistake. More...
The
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
is open from 9 to 5 (closed Monday) for a small admission fee.
You may also
want to visit the
Istanbul Archeological Museums,
a 10- to 15-minute walk northward past Ayasofya toward Topkapi Palace.
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