Harem

A document from the German archive has revealed that Ankara thwarted a German production company's attempt to create a film about Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1935, citing concerns that the work focused solely on his private life, daily Hürriyet has reported.

As part of the Beyoğlu Cultural Road Festival, two works by the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet (IDOB), Mozart's masterpiece 'Abduction from the Seraglio' and the modern dance show 'New Life,' will be simultaneously staged on Oct 12 at the Atatürk Cultural Center's two different halls.

A rare portrait of Hürrem Sultan, a chief consort and legal wife of Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, has been put up for sale in New York for $206,000, according to auction house Sotheby's.

With restoration works in the Topkapı Palace's Courtyard of the Concubines and the Seraglio Hospital nearing their end, efforts are being made to increase the number of visitors by threefold in the different sections of the palace's Seraglio.

A corporate executive heading an international firm's energy department in Turkey has been accused of treating his wife like a sex slave in his "harem." 

Ongoing restorations at Topkapı Palace have unearthed never-before-seen silver and gold coins, jewelries, talismans, amulets and letters. But one mysterious finding amongst others was an encrypted letter dating back to 1871, carrying the seal of Cevher Agha, also known as the Dârüssaade Ağası, the chief eunuch of Sultan Abdülaziz’s harem, found in a closet at the harem of the palace.

'The Black Eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire: Networks of Power in the Court of the Sultan' by George Junne (I.B. Tauris, 336 pages, £64)

Authorities at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul are probing a hole three meters in diameter that appeared two weeks ago in the yard of the famous tourist attraction, soon after deep cracks were discovered in the basement of the building's treasury pavilion.

Authorities at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul are probing a hole three meters in diameter that appeared two weeks ago in the yard of the famous tourist attraction, soon after deep cracks were discovered in the basement of the building's treasury pavilion.

An exhibition, organized by the Istanbul Entertainment Group and Dubai sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktum's company Meraas and inspired by popular Turkish TV series "Magnificient Century," has opened in Dubai CityWalk.