|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Harem-i Humayun is the private section of Sultan and his family and it was connected to the Selamlik section by a long corridor which was guarded all the time to make sure that nobody passes. Despite of being influenced by Western architecture and being built by taking European palaces as an example, in Dolmabahce, the Harem was designed as a separate section, although not rigid as it used to be in terms of space arrangements and functional relations.
Harem-i Humayun is a private living space integrated to the whole under the same roof so it is not a building separated from the Palace.
Harem was strictly prohibited by any man to go in, except the sultan himself of course and the eunuch servants. The Harem section is formed by several halls, rooms and baths.
There were rooms for official wives, suites of the sultan, quarter of the Queen mother (Valide Sultan), favorites (Gozde) and concubines (Cariye), and some education rooms for the young children of the sultan.
The capacious halls lightened by the reflections of Bosporus. Among the most interesting and impressive features of Harem there are Blue and Pink Halls, the apartment of Valide Sultan (Mother Sultan), the rooms of Sultans Abdulmedjid, Abdulaziz and also Resad, matrons rooms, concubines section, Great Ataturk's study and bedroom and many valuable artifacts such as rugs and kilims, furniture, chandeliers, inscriptions, vases, oil paintings etc. Rooms and three baths of Harem-i Humayun section arranged informally around ten large halls, five on each floor.
The four halls facing the Bosphorus have distinct and elaborate decorative schemes. The Blue Hall was the main meeting space in the harem and nearby it there is the smaller Pink Hall, both rooms opened out to the harem portico.
On the east of the harem section The Palace of the Crown Prince is located. It is a separate structure and they are separated by a wall but it appears as an extension of the main palace when viewed from the water.
|
|
 |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
Harem-i Humayun -
Dolmabahce Palace |
|
|
