Tag: Harem

  • Traveling to Istanbul (II)–the Harem and other delights

    Traveling to Istanbul (II)–the Harem and other delights

    Whenever I want to learn about someplace, or some different time, I usually go the mystery route—find some good mysteries about whatever I want to know about, and read them. Sometimes this is more a happy accident than by design. Such was the case with Jason Goodwin’s series about Istanbul in the 1830s, with their protagonist Yashim the eunuch. I picked the first one up one day, and have been hooked ever since. There are four now, all excellent. And one reason they’re excellent is what you learn about the place and the time—in the 1830s, the Ottoman Empire was under intense pressure from both the North, in the form of Russia, and the south, in the form of Egypt. There’s lots of politics, since Yashim essentially functions as an intelligence operative for the Palace. And a lot of the Palace politics gets clarified and elucidated by Yashim’s visits to the Harem. Well, he’s a eunuch (from particularly tragic circumstances), remember—he can go there.

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    And so can you or I, now—just get on line inside Topkapi Palace for the Harem—yes, the real Harem—and you’re in. It’s great. Talk about a warren of rooms—there are rooms and rooms, and alcoves, and passageways, and cul de sacs, and fountains and baths, and everything a Harem is supposed to have. The day we went was bright and sunny, so there was plenty of light, always a help. It’s still easy to forget that most of the world’s historic architecture and buildings were built when the world was still, in William Manchester’s wonderful phrase, lit only by fire.

    We start out in the entrance hallway here, which gives a pretty good flavor of the whole place, even though it’s an outdoors area:

    As we move along through the nooks and crannies, we see why the mythology of this place was so shrouded–because there’s not a single straight line in the place that goes anywhere. On the other hand, there are some stunning rooms and details:

    With this as well–just one of many corners you want to peer around, just to see what’s there. And it’s probably just another corner:

    So that was great. Imagine, the real Harem. If a Magic carpet had swooped down, it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit. And it fits with most of what else we’ve seen—mostly mosques, and mostly those designed by Sinan, mentioned yesterday as the dean of mosque architecture. Two in particular stand out. The first, Seyzadi Camii, was commissioned by Suleyman following the death of his son. The second was the mosque named for Suleyman, the Sulimaniye Mosque, which is the grandest mosque compex in Istanbul. When I say complex, that’s because that’s what they were. These large complexes contained a bit of everything—the mosque, of course, but also a whole lot else–tombs (turbes); the schools, including the college for religious instruction (the medrese); the kitchens (usually for feeding not just the residents of the schools and the priests, but also the poor of the neighborhood); a hamam for public bathing; a cesme, or public fountain; a library, stables and a han (business center). These were often large and costly to erect, but there are many of them, largely as a result of Islamic inheritance laws, which prevented leaving one’s entire estate to one’s children. We’re have some pictures of these two mosques in the next post.

    We had another stunningly lovely day today, which we put to good effect by taking a ferry over to the Asian side. We then got to wander around a bit, noticing that the Asian side looks pretty much exactly like the European side. So we ambled north to the little town of Kuzguncuk (which is still in Istanbul, so our transport pass still worked.) This is worth mentioning because of the lunch we had, at a place called Ismet Baba Restaurant.

    Like every place that gets overrun with tourists, there are two kinds of Turkish food in Istanbul—there’s Turkish food for tourists, and then there’s Turkish food. We’ve mostly been eating the former, but with just a tiny bit of effort you can easily find the latter. The lunch we had yesterday, for example, where we went back in the kitchen and picked stuff out. Not a word of English was uttered in any of these exchanges. Today there was a little bit of English, but it didn’t really matter. This was a fish restaurant, so we had bluefish (which we picked out,) lightly battered and cooked in olive oil, with some yoghurt and aubergine salad on the side. Perfection, that’s what it was. The great meals are always the ones you didn’t really expect, aren’t they? Eating that meal, sipping a beer and gazing over the Bosporus, I felt we could get into this sort of lifestyle.

    That’s a fantasy, of course—I’d go nuts after a couple of weeks. But, still, it’s nice to have these breaks. At the moment I’m sitting on the roof patio of the hotel, staring at the busy Bosporus and Golden Horn, with dozens of ferries scooting around, and the larger ships and tankers heading up to or down from the Black Sea. It’s not what it was in the 19th century, of course, but it’s a lot busier than London. There’s a whole lot of life here. Tomorrow, up the Bosporus again!

    via Traveling to Istanbul (II)–the Harem and other delights | Scholars and Rogues.

  • Sarah Brightman ♫♪ HareM

    Sarah Brightman ♫♪ HareM

    4988006883147Harem is a 2003 album by English singer Sarah Brightman. It mixes her operatic voice with Middle-Eastern and Indian rhythms and vocals. Thanks to an idea of Frank Peterson, the producer of this album, in the song “Mysterious Days”, they included the vocals of the late singer Ofra Haza, who worked with Peterson in 1997 on her eponymous album.

    Following the release of Harem, Brightman launched the Harem World Tour and the DVD The Harem World Tour: Live from Las Vegas.

    Contents

    • 1 Track listing
      • 1.1 Bonus/Unreleased tracks
    • 2 Charts, sales and certifications
      • 2.1 Charts
      • 2.2 Sales and certifications
    • 3 References

    Track listing

    1. “Harem” – 5:45 (cover of “Canção do Mar” by Amália Rodrigues and Dulce Pontes)
    2. “What a Wonderful World” – 3:40 (originally sung by Louis Armstrong)
    3. “It’s a Beautiful Day” – 3:56 (adapted from the Un Bel Di Vedremo aria from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly) (Cover of “Ein Schöner Tag” by Schiller)
    4. “What You Never Know” – 3:24
    5. “The Journey Home” – 4:56 (cover of song from Bombay Dreams by A.R.Rahman)
    6. “Free” – 3:45
    7. “Mysterious Days” – 5:17 (featuring Israeli singer Ofra Haza)
    8. “The War is Over” (featuring Iraqi singer Kadim Al Sahir and English violinist Nigel Kennedy) – 5:15
    9. “Misere Mei” – 0:54 (from Gregorio Allegri’s “Miserere”)
    10. “Beautiful” – 4:35 (cover of “Beautiful” by Mandalay)
    11. “Arabian Nights: Scimitar Moon/Voyage/Promise/Hamesha/Alone” – 8:50 (featuring Natacha Atlas)
    12. “Stranger in Paradise” – 4:27 (adapted from Alexander Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances)
    13. “Until the End of Time” – 4:32

    Bonus/Unreleased tracks

    1. “You Take My Breath Away” (American version) – 6:50 (originally released on Brightman’s 1995 album, Fly)
    2. “Guéri De Toi” (International version) – 3:50 (French version of “Free”)
    3. “Tout Ce Que Je Sais” (Canadian version) – 3:28 (French version of “What You Never Know”)
    4. “Sarahbande” (Japanese version) – 3:60
    5. “Namida: When Firebirds Cry” (Harem Ultimate Edition) – 4:10
    6. “Where Eagles Fly” (unreleased song with Eric Adams from Manowar) – 3:53

    Note: This album has been released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions.

    Charts, sales and certifications

    Charts

    Chart (2003) Peak
    Position
    U.S. Billboard Top Classical Crossover Albums 1
    Swedish Album Chart 1
    Greek Albums Chart[2] 3
    Canada Top Albums 7
    Japan Oricon Top Albums 8
    Mexico Top 100 Albums Chart 10
    Portugal Albums Top 30[3] 12
    Germany Media Control Albums Top 100 12
    Australia Albums Top 50s[3] 16
    Hungary MAHASZ Top 40 Album 20
    Austria Albums Top 75[3] 22
    Finland Albums Top 50[3] 25
    Dutch Albums Top 100[3] 27
    New Zealand Albums Top 40[3] 29
    U.S. Billboard Top 200 Albums 29
    U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums 29
    Denmark Albums Top 40[3] 35
    Norway Albums Top 40[3] 36
    Swiss Albums Top 100[3] 53
    UK Albums Chart 172
  • Book on Ottoman seraglio introduced

    Book on Ottoman seraglio introduced

    ISTANBUL – Anatolia News Agency

    TURKISH FORUM SHOP : https://www.turkishnews.com/en/content/turkish-forum-shop/

    TURKISH FORUM BOOK SALES : https://www.turkishnews.com/en/content/turkish-forum-liquidation-sale/

    ‘Harem ve Cariyelik’ has been prepared to answer questions about the seraglio. AA photo
    ‘Harem ve Cariyelik’ has been prepared to answer questions about the seraglio. AA photo

    A new book titled “Harem ve Cariye” (Seraglio and Concubinage) was introduced Sunday at a press conference held at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace.

    Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said the book was prepared because visitors to the palace asked many questions about the sultan’s private quarter, the seraglio.

    “Since the issue of concubinage is highlighted even in television series recently, people are curious about it. The issue of the seraglio is not only about private life, but it is an important institution about the state administration. We have prepared this book to explain the issue better because we are responsible for the palaces. I hope there will be more publications about this issue in the near future,” said Çiçek.

    National Palaces Scientific Committee Chairman İlber Ortaylı said the book was written to answer questions about the concept of seraglio in the Ottoman era.

    When asked if it was right that concubines were thrown into the sea in a carryall, Ortaylı said, “The killing of sultans’ sons were exaggerated in the period of Mehmet III and Murat III. Murat III had to kill his five brothers because there were separatist movements in Anatolia and his brothers were involved. This situation caused protests and rumors. Throwing concubines into the sea in a carryall is an exaggerated rumor, too.”

    Beylerbeyi Palace Deputy Director Cengiz Göncü said the book was one of the efforts to reveal the rich cultural and historical heritage of palaces and mansions.

    via Book on Ottoman seraglio introduced – Hurriyet Daily News.

  • Istanbul’s Harem-Gebze Minibus

    Istanbul’s Harem-Gebze Minibus

    One of my favorite activities in Istanbul is mentioned in very few guidebooks: riding the Harem-Gebze minibus.

    HAREMGEBZEMINI

    The Harem-Gebze is a semi-public bus seating about 15 people. I don’t know how many passengers fit in the bus if you include those standing, but during rush hour, drivers seem to always believe there is room for one more.

    The buses ply the D-100 highway, a busy road running about a mile inland from the Marmara Sea. One of the Harem-Gebze line’s terminals is in Harem, a major transportation hub on Istanbul’s Asian side, the other in Gebze, an industrial suburb east of the city.

    Much of the Harem-Gebze line is now served by a new commuter train, so the minibus activity is certain to dwindle in the years to come. However, the drivers stop wherever the passengers ask them to, so the minibuses can serve local traffic in a way a train never can.

    When I tell visitors this bus line is one of my favorite sights in all of Istanbul, residents look at me like I must be joking. Why on earth, they ask, would I recommend a tourist take a bumpy, uncomfortable, erratic, potentially dangerous bus ride through a particularly ugly, crowded, stinking part of the city?

    I recommend it because after three days of touring the Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, and maybe Istiklal and Ortakoy, visitors have seen Istanbul as it was, and maybe Istanbul as it likes to relax, but they haven’t seen Istanbul as it is.

    In just half a day’s time, the Harem-Gebze minibus will take them past the tall Unilever building standing between the neighborhoods of Icerenkoy and Bostanci, a reminder that one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies uses Istanbul as a center from which to conduct business throughout Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

    After Bostanci, the bus passes an infantry training center located right in the middle of the city. The training center is little-used these days, leapfrogged by newer, larger bases further from the city, but it serves as a visible symbol of the military’s prominent, but decaying, role in Turkish political life.

    The bus also passes the squat, utilitarian headquarters of Efes Pilsen, a beer manufacturer supplying 85% of the beer consumed in Turkey. From its unassuming offices just off the highway, the company runs an empire that reaches into Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The company even owns breweries in Russia.

    Just across the highway from Efes Pilsen is a large satellite office for Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest provider of cell phone and wireless communication services.

    From this building the company runs many of its business operations, including almost all of its call center activity and some of its financial planning. Like Efes Pilsen, Turkcell is a major player not only in Turkey but throughout the region, and like Microsoft has in Seattle, Turkcell in Istanbul has spawned startups that bring the company’s technological and marketing prowess to markets throughout Asia, Europe, and northern Africa.

    As the bus draws closer to Gebze, it passes the shipyards of Tuzla and the automobile factories of Hyundai/Assan. They are certainly not as huge or as world-renowned as the shipyards and car factories of Korea or Japan, but they are a reminder nonetheless that Turkey maintains significant heavy manufacturing capacity and supplies ships, cars, and trucks to the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean.

    When the bus makes its last stop in Gebze, there is little to do except have lunch and hop the same bus for the ride back to Istanbul. Gebze, like almost all of the sights passengers can see from the minibus, does not exist for visitors; it exists for residents, the people who work in the breweries and the call centers and the car factories.

    In less than one day, tourists will have seen not the Istanbul of museums, mosques, and retail shops but the Istanbul that distributes consumer goods to a billion of the world’s people, the Istanbul that makes ships and cars for Europe, and the Istanbul that helps farmers in Kazakhstan communicate with markets in Poland. They will see Istanbul at work, and that is why this bumpy, smelly, crowded minibus ride tops my list of things to do when you visit the city.

    Matt’s new book, “A Tight Wide-Open Space: Finding Love in a Muslim Land” is now available in Paperback and on Amazon Kindle. You can purchase it at his website, . Watch the trailer for the book below.

    Book trailer from Matt Krause on Vimeo.

    via Istanbul’s Harem-Gebze Minibus | JetSettlers Magazine.

    Source :

  • Topkapi’s Harem : Day Trips, Sightseeing, Suggested Itineraries | Istanbul Things to Do

    Topkapi’s Harem : Day Trips, Sightseeing, Suggested Itineraries | Istanbul Things to Do

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    Explore the more private room of the Topkapi palace in the Harem

    The word “harem” comes to us from Arabic via Turkish, but its original meaning got lost in translation. Whereas we understand it to mean a store of readily available concubines, it actually meant ‘forbidden’ or ‘private’, and was applied to the part of a house or palace closed to outsiders.

    Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace has the largest surviving harem in the world. Unlike the rest of Topkapi, designed to intimidate foreign dignitaries with its grand courtyards and forbidding battlements, the Harem was a golden cage reserved for the sultan and his intimates. It was a place which fed the fantasies of European artists, who imagined voluptuous odalisques reclining languidly in marble pools amid billowing clouds of steam. And while for the sultan (and the sultan alone) this was a place of sensual respite, it was also the power center of the Ottoman Empire, a hive of intrigue and conspiracy whose undisputed queen bee was the sultan’s mother. Family feuds could be brutal, with succession disputes often settled by murder.

    Fortunately, interlopers need no longer pay for the privilege of seeing the Harem with their lives. Only a small number of the 300 or so rooms are accessible to the public, but they boast some of Topkapi’s most stunning decorative work. For such a resolutely Eastern institution there are numerous Western touches, including Baroque scrolls and the Delft tiles which line the elegant Imperial Hall. Elsewhere you’ll find quiet courtyards, mysterious corridors and hammams atmospherically light by skylights known as “elephants’ eyes”.

    A practical note: the Harem only accepts a certain amount of visitors per day, so get to Topkapi early and make your way to the Harem entrance once you’ve entered the main complex. There’s a separate fee and you can only visit on a guided tour.

    – James Conway

    via Topkapi’s Harem : Day Trips, Sightseeing, Suggested Itineraries | Istanbul Things to Do.

  • Harem at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace in perilous state, expert says

    Harem at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace in perilous state, expert says

    VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    Officials are planning to restore the most famous section of Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace, the harem, but its decrepit nature is much worse than initially believed. At present, the harem’s priceless hand-carved tiles and ceiling slabs are severely damaged, architect and restoration expert Fatma Sedes says. The room is currently very fragile, she says

    National and international film directors are increasingly starting to use the palace and the harem as a film set, further causing damage to the centuries-old buildings.
    National and international film directors are increasingly starting to use the palace and the harem as a film set, further causing damage to the centuries-old buildings.

     

    National and international film directors are increasingly starting to use the palace and the harem as a film set, further causing damage to the centuries-old buildings.

    Hit TV shows like “Muhteşem Yüzyıl” (The Magnificent Century) have reawakened interest in Turkey’s Ottoman past, yet this popularity has failed to prevent the empire’s most famous landmark from becoming increasingly decrepit, according to experts.

    Istanbul’s iconic Topkapı Palace, the former seat of the Ottoman sultans and their retinues, receives the highest government funding while also bringing in the most visitor revenues, yet even it is in a perilous state, according to Fatma Sedes, an architect and restoration expert at Istanbul Aydın University and a member of the Foundation for the Protection of Historical Heritage.

    “Despite that big a budget, the palace does not receive enough attention. Also, the fact that people touch [artifacts] during daily visits causes permanent damage to the palace,” she recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

    Already one of the most popular sections of Topkapı, the harem has received even more attention due to “Muhteşem Yüzyıl,” which dramatizes the life of Süleyman the Magnificent and the intrigues in his harem.

    Sedes, who is currently conducting appraisals of the harem in preparation for a planned restoration, said section was in a perilous state. “The problem could become bigger in the future, as it is a fragile place.”

    Moreover, national and international film directors are increasingly starting to use the palace and the harem as a film set, further causing damage to the centuries-old buildings. “Building a film set [in the harem] means giving structures that have been carrying years of weariness their deathblow,” Sedes said.

    At present, the harem’s priceless hand-carved tiles and ceiling slabs are severely damaged, Sedes said.

    Rest of complex also in danger

    Topkapı Palace and its harem are not the only parts of the complex that are falling into ruin, according to Topkapı Palace Director Professor İlber Ortaylı. At the moment, the palace’s walls overlooking Seraglio Point and home to priceless artifacts like the Kaşıkçı Diamond are at risk of collapse, he told the Daily News in a previous interview.

    In the 1950s the Topkapı Palace underwent a serious restoration, conducted by one of Turkey’s first female architects, Mualla Eyüboğlu-Anheger.

    The palace has survived until today thanks to the extensive restoration conducted by Eyüboğlu-Anheger, Sedes said.

    “Despite our technology advantages today, it is impossible to carry out the same extensive work that she did in the past. She not only carried out restorations, but also archaeological excavations in the sections called the İkballer Apartment and Şimşirlik [Boxwood] Garden and revealed reservoirs,” she said.

    Asked about the connection between the reservoirs beneath the site and the buildings’ decrepit nature, Sedes said: “The reservoirs are all in a dry state. Also, contrary to what is supposed, the reservoirs give stability in the event of a possible earthquake. This was scientifically proven by geophysics engineers.”

    Sedes also said it was important to have a fully authorized restoration team in all national palaces, as is the case in foreign countries.

    At the moment, however, only Beşiktaş’s Dolmabahçe Palace has such a team, Sedes said.

    ‘Sultan’s tomb in terrible state’

    Sedes has also been carrying out restoration work on the tombs of Süleyman the Magnificent and his wife, the famous Hürrem Sultan, which were constructed by the architect Sinan behind Fatih’s Süleymaniye Mosque.

    “The tombs, which are decorated with various stones and marble from around the country and unique İznik tiles, are in a terrible state,” she said, adding that there were also serious problems with the roof and the marble.

    via Harem at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace in perilous state, expert says – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review.