The palace’s European glassware collection comprises basin and pitcher sets, candy bowls, covered bowls, large and small plates, carafes and glasses, sherbet glasses and pitchers, coffee cups and holders, chandeliers, and candelabra. Bohemian glass and crystal make up an especially important part of the collection. Beginning in the first half of the 17th century, a new variety of glass began to be manufactured in Bohemia using a technique that revolutionized the glassmaking i

The sultans would observe the items in the treasury—which, in addition to being great works of art, also have great historical, monetary, and spiritual value—as if taking part in a special ceremony. Since the treasury was, in effect, a memento of the royal family, the sultans showed special care in enriching its collection. The items in the treasury were originally kept in chests and cupboards that would only be opened on the occasion of the sultans’ visiting the treasury. It

The weaponry used by the Ottoman army was manufactured in various workshops and stored in armories called cebehâne, where their maintenance and repairs would also be done. The first Ottoman cebehâne was established in Edirne. Following the conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II converted the Church of Hagia Eirene in Topkapı Palace’s First Courtyard into a cebehâne, for which purpose this building would continue to be used until the late 19th century. In 1846, at the in