Culture minister vows to address cracks and fragilities at Istanbul's Topkapı Palace

Turkish Culture Minister Nabi Avcı visited Istanbul's historical Topkapı Palace on Oct. 3 after news reports that the popular Ottoman-era tourist site is riddled with dangerous cracks in its treasury room. 
Avcı said the recent media coverage of the crevices in the basement floor of the palace's treasury room, the Fatih Pavilion, which led to its artifacts being removed for security measures, wrongly reported these deep cracks as a new issue. 

"These cracks are not a recently emerging issue. This is a situation that we as the ministry and the Topkapı [Palace] authority have been working on since Oct. 10, 2015," said Avcı, adding that work was currently ongoing with Istanbul Technical University and Boğaziçi University. 

The minister said 26 seismic wells will be dug to investigate the problem as part of the inspection work over the course of one month, revealing the frequencies, durations and power of the seismic threats. Fortification work would be carried out in line with this, he added.

Avcı pointed to a concrete dome built in the 1940s as the source of today's cracks, as it had led to unsustainable and damaging pressure on the walls. The concrete dome will be removed and replaced with a wooden dome, he said.   

"This way the walls will be cleared off pressure ... Recording the seismic data will take three to four months. Our forecast is that by early March this will be completed," said Avcı. 

He also touched upon the widely reported issue of large holes that have opened up in the garden of the Topkapı Palace. 

Speaking anonymously to daily Hürriyet after its story on cracks in the Fatih Pavillion, a palace employee said a hole had emerged in the grass in the second yard of the palace.

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