The New Palace of Mehmed Fatih and its Byzantine Legacy

When Sultan Mehmed Fatih entered Constantinople in 1453, one of the first places he visited was the Church of Saint Sophia and the dilapidated remains of the imperial palace. Although Mehmet soon had Saint Sophia restored and converted into an imperial mosque, he neither renovated the ruins of the Great Palace nor the Blachernai Palace.



Next year the sultan began to build a traditional Ottoman palace where the University of Istanbul stands today. However, soon after, Mehmed decided to build yet another palace. This one was a much more monumental structure, which the sultan called the New Palace (Yeni Saray), today known as the Topkapı Sarayı. But why build a new palace so soon?



This paper argues that the building of a new palace was motivated by the new imperial image of the sultan that had crystallised while Constantinople was being transformed into the Ottoman capital: Mehmed saw himself as the heir to the Eastern Roman Empire. This had to be reflected in palace ceremonial and architecture. The New Palace was situated close to two great imperial monuments, Saint Sophia and the Hippodrome, now used for Ottoman festivities. The palace was clearly distinguished from the Byzantine imperial palace to stress the rule of a different dynasty, while the perpetuation of Byzantine ceremonial communicated a message of timeless order and stability, bestowing permanence and legitimacy.



The paper will present a step-by-step comparison between the Byzantine and Ottoman palaces, through three courts of diminishing size, toward the ruler, where all movement converged.

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