Türkiye's Topkapı Palace opens Mabeyn Road tile art gallery

The gallery makes it possible to trace the stylistic and technical transformation of tile art from İznik to Kütahya, Türkiye, along a single route.

Thanks to its thematic layout, visitors can follow step by step the context of use in palace architecture and the changes in tile styles, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

Speaking to members of the press at the opening of the gallery, President of the National Palaces Administration Dr. Yasin Yıldız said that the Mabeyn Road is one of the mysterious corners of Topkapı Palace:

“This is a very important corridor connecting the sultan’s private quarters with the harem, but in later centuries it fell out of use and remained forgotten for many years.”

Yıldız explained that within the scope of the restoration project, they designed the corridor as a tile gallery by referencing the tiles found throughout the palace:

“Tiles are truly one of the most important components of the National Palaces Collection, especially at Topkapı Palace. The tiles displayed here include those that were used decoratively in architectural spaces. In this respect, Topkapı Palace has a very rich tile collection. Considering that the period of its construction and its major reconstruction in the 16th century coincide with the peak of Turkish tile art, this diversity can be better understood.”

“The work took nearly three years in total”

Pointing out that the gallery includes very special examples of İznik and Kütahya tiles, Yıldız said:

“Some of these tiles were kept in our storage facilities, and visitors had little chance to see them. With this gallery, we aimed to bring these tiles together as a whole and present them to visitors. Without seeing this important part of the palace’s history and collections, it would not be possible to fully understand the palace as a whole. The importance of choosing this location stems from this very reason.”

Yıldız also noted that along the Mabeyn Road, the names of Ottoman sultans from Osman Gazi to Sultan Selim II are written together on 16th-century tiles:

“I can say that the work as a whole took nearly three years. Restoration projects take quite a long time. We are also nearing completion in our work on the sultan’s apartments in the Mabeyn. The room used by the sultan, the Mirrored Room, and the Valide Sultan’s Apartment will all be ready to open to visitors in the near future.”

About the tile gallery project

A significant portion of the Topkapı Palace tiles had been kept in scattered storage areas in the Harem until 2018. The National Palaces Administration moved the tiles—preserved in more than 2,000 crates—to two storage facilities established in the Aziziye buildings, expanding the storage area to 700 square meters.

With the establishment of the Tile Restoration Workshop four years ago, classification and documentation work began. As part of these efforts, documentation was carried out with 9,486 photographs, and 800 different patterns were added to the inventory. The tile gallery selection was created as a result of this work. The identification of matching fragments in storage for restoration purposes is still ongoing.

As reported by CE Report, the Mabeyn Road Tile Art Gallery presents, together, the progression from the İznik-centered classical style of the 16th century to the transformation and diversification of the 17th century, and finally to Kütahya production in the 18th century, where European influences became more pronounced. Motifs such as tulips, carnations, hyacinths, and hatai, as well as period landscapes and figurative scenes, can be viewed from the perspective of aesthetic evolution and cultural interaction.

On the gallery walls are large-inscribed tiles listing the names of sultans from Osman Gazi to Sultan Selim II. Visitors can also see tiles featuring selected couplets from “Qasida al-Munfarija,” written in the 11th century by the Tunisian poet Ibn al-Nahwi.

The gallery, which includes approximately 250 tile pieces, can be visited every day of the week between 09:00 and 17:00, except Tuesdays, when Topkapı Palace is closed.