The Silent Steps of the Harem at Topkapı Palace and the New Face of the Mabeyn Passage

Among all the places I visit during our tours of Topkapı Palace, the Harem has always been the one that affects me the most. The palace gardens, panoramic views, and exhibitions are of course mesmerizing; yet without stepping into the Harem, I never feel that I have truly visited Topkapı. Because the Harem is the heart of the palace… A place where silence, discipline, splendor, and unseen lives intertwine, and where one can feel the breath of history more closely than anywhere else.

We begin our Topkapı Palace tours, as always, in the First Courtyard. After seeing the imperial bakeries, the Church of Hagia Irene from the Byzantine era, and the mint from the outside, we move on to the Second Courtyard. Here, the sheer scale of the imperial kitchens—once capable of preparing meals for up to 8,000 people—remains astonishing. The thousands of ceramic and porcelain pieces exhibited in these spaces, where candles, medicines, and soaps were also produced, reveal the hidden order of palace life.

After greeting the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun) from the outside, we head directly to the Harem, where the door opens to an entirely different world. As we walk through the cold stone corridors, one of the most common questions visitors ask is:“Women lived here in seclusion, but was there no soil, no greenery, no plants?”

Yes, the stone courtyards of the Harem may feel harsh and austere at first. Yet behind these walls lies a view so captivating… The blue of the Golden Horn, the light filtering into the inner courtyards of the palace, the serenity seen from the Sultan’s private chamber—powerful enough to make one forget everything else.

After visiting the Sultan’s room, we pass by the chamber where the princes once received their education. Soon after, we reach that breathtaking spot overlooking the Golden Horn. From the courtyard of the concubines, looking down, we see the areas where the princes were confined for years under the cage system. For a long time, we wondered about the rooms where they slept, hidden within the concubines’ quarters. Although we could not enter, the artificial female figures placed by the administration in the windows offered those of us looking from outside a small hint of the lives once lived within. These statue-like figures only deepened the silence of the space.

Today, however, this area has taken on an entirely new function. The Mabeyn Passage, which opens onto the concubines’ quarters, has been restored in keeping with its original architecture and opened to visitors as the “Mabeyn Passage Tile Art Gallery.” Once the private route used by the Sultan to pass into the Harem, this narrow, stone-paved, mysterious corridor now hosts some of the finest examples of Ottoman tile art.

This transformation moved and excited me at the same time. Because re-functioning historic spaces through a contemporary museology approach creates a powerful bridge between the past and the present. The meeting of the Mabeyn Passage with tile art is exactly such a step. It is invaluable in terms of preserving cultural heritage, keeping it alive, and passing it on to future generations.

I only wish we could also access the upper floors of the concubines’ quarters… Still, this new arrangement is deeply meaningful, as it finally allows us to closely experience a passage we had been curious about for years.

Topkapı Palace reminds me of the same truth every time I visit:History is not only told—it is lived. And sometimes a stone corridor, a single tile, or a window overlooking the Golden Horn can whisper centuries of stories in a single breath.

I sincerely hope that this special place will be a source of inspiration and benefit for culture, art, and heritage alike.