Topkapı Palace

For nearly four centuries this was the seat of the Ottoman sultans, and from its walls on Seraglio Point they governed an empire. Mehmed II began the palace soon after conquering Constantinople in 1453, and it remained the imperial residence until the court moved to Dolmabahçe Palace in the mid-nineteenth century. It became a museum in 1924, and signs give its Turkish name, Topkapı Sarayı.

The palace is a sequence of courtyards rather than a single building, each more private than the last, with pavilions, terraces and gardens that look over the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara. Highlights include the Harem's tiled rooms, the Imperial Treasury with the Topkapı Dagger and the Spoonmaker's Diamond, a large collection of Chinese porcelain in the old kitchens, and the Chamber of the Holy Relics, which holds objects revered by Muslims.

The palace draws almost two million visitors a year, and seeing it properly takes several hours.