The Festival Throne In Topkapi Palace – Chapter 1

The Festival Throne In Topkapi Palace – Chapter 1,

Visitors to the Treasury of Topkapi Palace Museum will see a gold throne shaped like an armchair and big enough to easily fit two people, placed in a case in the center of the fourth room. This throne, called the Festival Throne, is decorated with topazes and is of as great material as historical value. It recalls a very important palace ceremony of the past. One of the large ceremonies which were held in Ottoman Palaces were the Celebration ceremonies held on festivals days, at which the sultan would celebrate religious festivals with the important men of the state. These traditional ceremonies were planned down to the smallest detail, the formalities which regulated them even being recorded in the statute beck. With a few small changes, these ceremonies continued to be held right up to the final days of the Ottoman state. According to historians, it was Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror who first laid down set regulations and procedures for holding these Celebration ceremonies. One clause in the Ottoman Law Code which the Conqueror had written is as follows: “It is my order that on festival days a throne should be set up in the council square. Then the viziers, vice chancellors and minister of finance shall kiss my hand. My law lays down that I will stand before my viziers, my vice chancellors and my chief minister of finance”. The Conqueror described the Celebration ceremonies down to the finest detail in his own statute book, even stating who should stand and who not. Although certain changes were made the ceremonies were basically as follows: Early on the morning of the festival before the holiday prayers, the sultan’s Festival Throne would be taken from the treasury and placed in the hall in front of the Bab’us-Saade gate leading into the third courtyard. Silk carpets would be spread on the floor and the Throne placed on top of these carpets. All the lights in the palace would be lit and torches would illuminate the area around the throne.

You can continue to find more details about The Festival Throne In Topkapi Palace in Chapter 2.