ottoman garden pavilions and tents

8/9/2019 Ottoman Garden Pavilions and Tents

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ottoman garden pavilions and tents 15

Ottoman sultans would view celebrations, entertain-ments, or sports activities that took place in gardens,squares, or other open-air areas from pavilions or tentsset up at locations that overlooked the entire area.Garden pavilions were among the most prominent el-ements of privy gardens, which belonged to the sul-tans personally, and in which they could stroll, tastethe fruit, or enjoy the beauty. Generally these pavilions

were very simple constructions that served the purposeof providing shelter for viewing the gardens where they

were located, nature, or entertainment. Varied archi-tectural forms were used. Though very old examplesare no longer in existence, we can see these gardenpavilions in miniatures that represent privy gardens,

where they catch the eye at first glance. The pyrami-dal-roofed pavilion shown placed at the corner of thegarden walls in a miniature from theKlliyatof Ktibi1

and other such pavilions with Sultan Murad III enjoy-ing the view of the shore in his privy garden in Kan-dilli are examples of a tradition continuous from thefourteenth century until the end of the sixteenth (fig.1).2The pavilion in the garden of the Silivri Palace is

on the shore. The facade is opened with round archesto allow a comfortable view of the sea. The sultan isdepicted sitting in this pavilion with carafes, plates offruit, and rows of vases containing carnations, tulips,and purple violets in front of him. A lattice has beenplaced on the shoreline to conceal him from the eyesof strangers. The red curtains that first draw the view-ers eye serve to cover the space between the arches inbad weather conditions.3A similar garden pavilion isdepicted in a miniature dating to the end of the six-teenth century, at a kiosk on the shore of the TopkapPalace.4The architectural principles are the same, butthe red curtain has been placed on the exterior of the

arches rather than the interior. The spiraling lines seenupon careful observation indicate that the curtain isrolled up to the top.

These kinds of garden pavilions, of which there aremany examples, are reminiscent of tents, especially in

their ability to extend outward. In a miniature in the156869 Nzhet-el Esrr el-Ahbr der Sefer-i Sigetvar, thetwo skirts forming the front walls of a yurt-style tent,in which Sleyman the Magnificent is depicted grant-ing an audience to the Hungarian envoy, have beenopened to the sides.5 Tents and canopies were alsoused as impressive stages during important ceremo-nies, opened in the front to display their rich interiordecoration.

The throne upon which the new ruler, Sultan Selim,

is enthroned in Belgrade, where he had come follow-ing Sleyman the Magnificents death on his Sigetvarcampaign, has been placed inside a tent of which theskirts have been opened to the sides.6 In a miniatureof theNusretnmedepicting the feast given by Lala Mus-tafa Pasha for the janissary aghas,7we see that single-columned tents have replaced the yurt-style ones. Infront of the opened skirts of the tent with a red ex-terior and a green cloth lining on which we can seeembroidered patterns, a meal is set up and extends to-

ward the square.A photograph taken when King Ferdinand of Bul-

garia came to visit Istanbul in 1909 shows that SultanMehmed V Reshad greeted him in Sirkeci in a single-columned tent, opened in the front to form a stage forthe occasion. This tent is today in the Istanbul MilitaryMuseum (fig. 2).8In this case the tent has been usedas a portable garden pavilion opened to the exterior.

The tent in the Bayerisches Armeemuseum in Ingol-stadt, Germany, is the most significant example of thiskind and constituted a model for future garden pavil-ions. The opening of the skirts of this single-column,twelve-section tent has been designed with an obviousarchitectural concern. The three panels at the back arestationary, but the three flanking these on each side

are prepared so that their middle pieces can be rolledup and opened without moving the panels themselves.

Windows have also been placed on these panels to per-mit an outside view without opening the entire tent;the one in the center has been prepared as a door. A

NURHAN ATASOY

OTTOMAN GARDEN PAVILIONS AND TENTS


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nurhan atasoy16

Fig. 1. Sultan Murad III receiving news of victory in the garden kiosk of his privy garden in Kandilli. Sehinhnme, TSM B200,fol. 98b. (Photo: after Atasoy, Garden for the Sultan, p. 28, fig. 3)

Fig 2. Sultan Mehmed V Reshad greets the visiting Ferdinand, King of Bulgaria, March 21, 1909, outside a tent set up in frontof the Sirkeci train station. (Photo: after Resimli Kitap2, 9 [1909]: 947)


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fourth group of three panels can also be opened by roll-ing up the middle parts, but unlike the other groupsof three, which can all be rolled up to open to the ex-terior, this one has windows on only two panels.9

This tent immediately reminds one of the gardenpavilions called tent pavilions. Although very few ex-amples have survived, the fact that garden pavilionsbased on this tent model continued to be made un-

til the nineteenth century indicates that a large num-ber of such tents were produced. The tent pavilionin Sadabad, in Kthane, Istanbul, fully exhibits thetransformation of the tent into architecture: the strutsinserted into the textile sockets between the sectionsof the tent have been turned into marble columns,and the top of the tent into a baroque roof. Betweenthe arches are curtains that can be rolled up or downas described above. The point here is the extent thattents have influenced architecture as much as the op-posite (fig. 3).10The old, round tent pavilion that wastaken down in 1816 and the cloverleaf-shaped tent pa-

vilion built during the reign of Mahmud II to replace

it also testify to this phenomenon.In a miniature that depicts the imperial tent complex

set up for the princes circumcision festivities held inOkmeydan in 1720, during the reign of Ahmed III (fig.4), as well as in other depictions of imperial tent com-

plexes, we can see bower-shaped tents that serve11 astower pavilions, which had existed in palace architec-ture (for example, the Tower of Justice in the Top-kap Palace and the Cihannma in the Edirne Palace)since the Saljuq period (fig. 5). Simpler and smallerconstructions, these bowers are actually mere gardenpavilions. In a miniature in the Hamsaof Nevai datedto 1530,12we can see an example of a bower-type gar-

den pavilion, which allows a wide view of the outside,turned into a tower pavilion. There are many examplesof more developed garden pavilions transformed intotower pavilions: it is sufficient to look at the tower pa-

vilions among the garden kiosks in the gardens madeof candy depicted in the Srnmeof Ahmed III. An ex-ample in the form of a simple bower can be seen inthe Gaznevi album:13here the pavilion, with a domein the center of its roof, stands on four columns withfencing between them at the bottom and, at the top,curtains that cover the space when necessary. Actuallythe ~ftariye Kasr at the Topkap Palace, built in 1640for viewing the Golden Horn from the terrace between

the Circumcision Chamber and the Baghdad Kiosk,is nothing more than a simple bower-shaped gardenpavilion.14 It can also be considered as a throne, justas the portable Eventide Throne of Ahmed I,15whichis gorgeously decorated with mother-of-pearl and has a

Fig. 3. Tent pavilion at Sadabad in Kthane, on the Golden Horn. (Photo: after Eldem, Sa{dabad)


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small dome over four columns, can be viewed as a gar-den pavilion.

The depiction of the mostly imaginary gardens andgarden pavilions in the wall decorations of the haremin the Topkap Palace reflects the fancy of nineteenth-century artists. Water is an important element in theseimagined gardens, which are situated on the edge of

pools, rivers, or the sea. Featuring symmetrically ar-ranged geometric flowerbeds and large pots of whatseem to be lemons or oranges, the pavilions are sitedeither very near shores or extending over the water,supported on submerged posts. They are almost com-pletely open on the sides, under roofs supported bycolumns.16 Their arches also have rolled-up curtainsand wooden window shutters, half of which have beenopened downward and half upward. Both the curtainsand the shutters can be opened or closed as desired.The garden pavilions in these depictions constitute

very large kiosks or even palaces. The pictures empha-size that they are furnished with divans aligning withthe windowsills, and therefore that people are meantto sit in them and look at their surroundings. We wit-ness that even in these imaginary buildings, the main

Fig. 5. Ruin of the tower pavilion and Cihannma, Edirne Palace. Late-nineteenth-century postcard. (After Atasoy, Garden forthe Sultan,fig. 6, p. 30)

R

Fig. 4. Sultan Ahmed III and his sons view festivities from thetower pavilion in the imperial tent complex in Okmeydan.Srnme of Ahmed III, TSM A3594. (Photo: after Atl, Levniand the Surname, p. 149)


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principles of the tradition of garden pavilions, devel-oped in connection with tent folklore, are continued.

Professor Emerita, ~stanbul niversitesi

NOTES

1. Topkap Palace Museum (henceforth TSM), R. 989, 93a; il-lustrated in Nurhan Atasoy,A Garden for the Sultan(Istanbul:MAS Matbaaclk, 2002), fig. 2, p. 28.

2. TSM, B. 200, fol. 98b; see Atasoy, Garden,fig. 3, p. 28.3. TSM, A. 3595, fol.13a; see Atasoy, Garden,fig. 9, p. 31.4. TSM, B. 200, fol. 149a; see Atasoy, Garden,fig. 10, p. 31.5. TSM, H. 1339, fol. 16b; see Nurhan Atasoy, Ota- Hmayun:

Osmanl adrlar = Imperial Ottoman Tents (Istanbul, 2000),p. 56.

6. TSM, H. 1339, fol. 110b111a; see Atasoy, Tents,p. 16.7. TSM, H. 1365, fol. 34a; see Atasoy, Tents,p. 17.

8. Military Museum, Istanbul, inv. no. 26537; see Nurhan Atasoy,Ota- Hmayun: Osmanl adrlar = Imperial Ottoman Tents (Is-tanbul, 2000), p. 147, fig. 77; also seeResimli Kitap3, 17 (Mart1326 [March 1910]): 468. Photographs of same tent are alsoin the same issue, p. 453, and in Resimli Kitap2, 9 (Haziran1325 [June 1909]): 947.

9. Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Ingolstadt, A. 1854; see Atasoy,Tents,pp. 26263.

10. Sedad Hakk Eldem, Sa{dabad(Istanbul, n.d.), pp. 58, 8689;Istanbul Univ. Library, photograph albums of Abdulhamid II,no. 90473.

11. TSM, A. 3594, fol. 129b; Esin Atl, Levni and the Surname(Is-tanbul, 1999), p. 149.

12. TSM, H. 802, fol. 134a; see Atasoy, Garden,fig. 4, p. 29.13. Istanbul Univ. Library T 5461; see Atasoy, Garden, fig. 11,

p. 31.14. Atasoy, Garden,fig. 24, p. 37.15. Atasoy, Garden,fig. 16, p. 34.16. Gnsel Renda, Batililama dneminde Trk resim sanat 1700

1850 (Ankara, 1977), pp. 8084; Atasoy, Garden, pp. 26469.

ottoman garden pavilions and tents

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