Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, began this palace after 1453, and for about four hundred years it was the home and seat of government of the Ottoman sultans. It became a museum in 1924, soon after the end of the empire.
Visitors walk through courtyards, kiosks and the Harem, and see the imperial treasury, the kitchens with their Chinese porcelain, and the Chamber of Sacred Relics.
