Visual analysis of design in the harem of Topkapı palace

ABSTRACT The Harem of Topkapi Palace, an architectural complex which has been used as a main residence of the Ottoman Dynasty for 400 years, constitutes one of the most important examples to understand the Ottoman Imperial Power. However, the difficulties in finding detailed information about its building process, users, and users' preferences, create serious handicaps for new researchers which focus on the Harem. This research is structured in three steps and attempts to re-read the Harem using a new approach. Considering the fact, this study aims to re-read Harem through a different approach which consists of three steps. The first step based on the idea that: 'the architecture is a medium for visual communication '. While Ottomans used their settlement for their basic living needs, they also used it as a communication tool to represent the Ottoman imperial power. An examination of "legitimacy" and its requirements show a multi layered structure of visual language in the Ottoman imperial power and its counter-part in architecture. The Ottomans used different forms of visual language amongst themselves in and out of the court. Therefore, the second step examines another medium of visual communication from inside the court, namely 'miniature' paintings. Here the main idea is 'to examine the Ottomans own interpretation of the Court'. At this step, the research focuses on one of the Ottoman Shahnames, "Suleymanname of Arifi", which was used and produced by the Ottoman Court at the same period as the Harem was used. The third step uses the same patterns discovered in the structure of the miniature paintings : primarily the use of repetitive types of communication; secondly the hiding of the message by conveying it through differentiations in the types; finally the impact of time and the relationship between person and act, on the representation of the place. The architectural medium is re-defined with these concepts and the Harem of Topkapi Palace is transformed into "signs and surfaces" which will facilitate different readings. This comparative examination of two mediums which were produced, used and controlled by the Ottoman Dynasty has proved to be a reliable method to understand a language through which the Ottoman imperial power was represented. Instead of analyzing Topkapi Palace from a modern point of view, this study attempted the re-reading of the Harem by using the Ottomans own interpretation and rebuild an abstract map of the Harem with the logical patterns that are to be found in the Shahname folios. Keywords: Topkapi Palace, harem, imperial power of Ottoman, Ottoman miniatures, design in Ottoman Court, space, place, stage, surface, signs. viu