ottoman garden pavilions and tents

15

NURHAN ATASOY

OTTOMAN GARDEN PAVILIONS AND TENTS

Ottoman sultans would view celebrations, entertainments, or sports activities that took place in gardens,
squares, or other open-air areas from pavilions or tents
set up at locations that overlooked the entire area.
Garden pavilions were among the most prominent elements of privy gardens, which belonged to the sultans personally, and in which they could stroll, taste
the fruit, or enjoy the beauty. Generally these pavilions
were very simple constructions that served the purpose
of providing shelter for viewing the gardens where they
were located, nature, or entertainment. Varied architectural forms were used. Though very old examples
are no longer in existence, we can see these garden
pavilions in miniatures that represent privy gardens,
where they catch the eye at rst glance. The pyramidal-roofed pavilion shown placed at the corner of the
garden walls in a miniature from the Klliyat of Ktibi1
and other such pavilions with Sultan Murad III enjoying the view of the shore in his privy garden in Kandilli are examples of a tradition continuous from the
fourteenth century until the end of the sixteenth (g.
1).2 The pavilion in the garden of the Silivri Palace is
on the shore. The facade is opened with round arches
to allow a comfortable view of the sea. The sultan is
depicted sitting in this pavilion with carafes, plates of
fruit, and rows of vases containing carnations, tulips,
and purple violets in front of him. A lattice has been
placed on the shoreline to conceal him from the eyes
of strangers. The red curtains that rst draw the viewers eye serve to cover the space between the arches in
bad weather conditions.3 A similar garden pavilion is
depicted in a miniature dating to the end of the sixteenth century, at a kiosk on the shore of the Topkap
Palace.4 The architectural principles are the same, but
the red curtain has been placed on the exterior of the
arches rather than the interior. The spiraling lines seen
upon careful observation indicate that the curtain is
rolled up to the top.
These kinds of garden pavilions, of which there are
many examples, are reminiscent of tents, especially in

their ability to extend outward. In a miniature in the

156869 Nzhet-el Esrr el-Ahbr der Sefer-i Sigetvar, the
two skirts forming the front walls of a yurt-style tent,
in which Sleyman the Magnicent is depicted granting an audience to the Hungarian envoy, have been
opened to the sides.5 Tents and canopies were also
used as impressive stages during important ceremonies, opened in the front to display their rich interior
decoration.
The throne upon which the new ruler, Sultan Selim,
is enthroned in Belgrade, where he had come following Sleyman the Magnicents death on his Sigetvar
campaign, has been placed inside a tent of which the
skirts have been opened to the sides.6 In a miniature
of the Nusretnme depicting the feast given by Lala Mustafa Pasha for the janissary aghas,7 we see that singlecolumned tents have replaced the yurt-style ones. In
front of the opened skirts of the tent with a red exterior and a green cloth lining on which we can see
embroidered patterns, a meal is set up and extends toward the square.
A photograph taken when King Ferdinand of Bulgaria came to visit Istanbul in 1909 shows that Sultan
Mehmed V Reshad greeted him in Sirkeci in a singlecolumned tent, opened in the front to form a stage for
the occasion. This tent is today in the Istanbul Military
Museum (g. 2).8 In this case the tent has been used
as a portable garden pavilion opened to the exterior.
The tent in the Bayerisches Armeemuseum in Ingolstadt, Germany, is the most signicant example of this
kind and constituted a model for future garden pavilions. The opening of the skirts of this single-column,
twelve-section tent has been designed with an obvious
architectural concern. The three panels at the back are
stationary, but the three anking these on each side
are prepared so that their middle pieces can be rolled
up and opened without moving the panels themselves.
Windows have also been placed on these panels to permit an outside view without opening the entire tent;
the one in the center has been prepared as a door. A

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nurhan atasoy

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 front
of the Sirkeci train station. (Photo: after Resimli Kitap 2, 9 [1909]: 947)

ottoman garden pavilions and tents

17

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

fourth group of three panels can also be opened by rolling up the middle parts, but unlike the other groups
of three, which can all be rolled up to open to the exterior, this one has windows on only two panels.9
This tent immediately reminds one of the garden
pavilions called tent pavilions. Although very few examples have survived, the fact that garden pavilions
based on this tent model continued to be made until the nineteenth century indicates that a large number of such tents were produced. The tent pavilion
in Sadabad, in Kthane, Istanbul, fully exhibits the
transformation of the tent into architecture: the struts
inserted into the textile sockets between the sections
of the tent have been turned into marble columns,
and the top of the tent into a baroque roof. Between
the arches are curtains that can be rolled up or down
as described above. The point here is the extent that
tents have inuenced architecture as much as the opposite (g. 3).10 The old, round tent pavilion that was
taken down in 1816 and the cloverleaf-shaped tent pavilion 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 in
Okmeydan in 1720, during the reign of Ahmed III (g.
4), as well as in other depictions of imperial tent com-

plexes, we can see bower-shaped tents that serve11 as

tower pavilions, which had existed in palace architecture (for example, the Tower of Justice in the Topkap Palace and the Cihannma in the Edirne Palace)
since the Saljuq period (g. 5). Simpler and smaller
constructions, these bowers are actually mere garden
pavilions. In a miniature in the Hamsa of Nevai dated
to 1530,12 we can see an example of a bower-type garden pavilion, which allows a wide view of the outside,
turned into a tower pavilion. There are many examples
of more developed garden pavilions transformed into
tower pavilions: it is sufcient to look at the tower pavilions among the garden kiosks in the gardens made
of candy depicted in the Srnme of Ahmed III. An example in the form of a simple bower can be seen in
the Gaznevi album:13 here the pavilion, with a dome
in the center of its roof, stands on four columns with
fencing between them at the bottom and, at the top,
curtains that cover the space when necessary. Actually
the ~ftariye Kasr at the Topkap Palace, built in 1640
for viewing the Golden Horn from the terrace between
the Circumcision Chamber and the Baghdad Kiosk,
is nothing more than a simple bower-shaped garden
pavilion.14 It can also be considered as a throne, just
as the portable Eventide Throne of Ahmed I,15 which
is gorgeously decorated with mother-of-pearl and has a

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nurhan atasoy
small dome over four columns, can be viewed as a garden pavilion.
The depiction of the mostly imaginary gardens and
garden pavilions in the wall decorations of the harem
in the Topkap Palace reects the fancy of nineteenthcentury artists. Water is an important element in these
imagined gardens, which are situated on the edge of
pools, rivers, or the sea. Featuring symmetrically arranged geometric owerbeds and large pots of what
seem to be lemons or oranges, the pavilions are sited
either very near shores or extending over the water,
supported on submerged posts. They are almost completely open on the sides, under roofs supported by
columns.16 Their arches also have rolled-up curtains
and wooden window shutters, half of which have been
opened downward and half upward. Both the curtains
and the shutters can be opened or closed as desired.
The garden pavilions in these depictions constitute
very large kiosks or even palaces. The pictures emphasize that they are furnished with divans aligning with
the windowsills, and therefore that people are meant
to sit in them and look at their surroundings. We witness that even in these imaginary buildings, the main
R
Fig. 4. Sultan Ahmed III and his sons view festivities from the
tower pavilion in the imperial tent complex in Okmeydan.
Srnme of Ahmed III, TSM A3594. (Photo: after Atl, Levni
and the Surname, p. 149)

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

ottoman garden pavilions and tents

principles of the tradition of garden pavilions, developed in connection with tent folklore, are continued.

8.

Professor Emerita, ~stanbul niversitesi

9.

NOTES
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

Topkap Palace Museum (henceforth TSM), R. 989, 93a; illustrated in Nurhan Atasoy, A Garden for the Sultan (Istanbul:
MAS Matbaaclk, 2002), g. 2, p. 28.
TSM, B. 200, fol. 98b; see Atasoy, Garden, g. 3, p. 28.
TSM, A. 3595, fol.13a; see Atasoy, Garden, g. 9, p. 31.
TSM, B. 200, fol. 149a; see Atasoy, Garden, g. 10, p. 31.
TSM, H. 1339, fol. 16b; see Nurhan Atasoy, Ota- Hmayun:
Osmanl adrlar = Imperial Ottoman Tents (Istanbul, 2000),
p. 56.
TSM, H. 1339, fol. 110b111a; see Atasoy, Tents, p. 16.
TSM, H. 1365, fol. 34a; see Atasoy, Tents, p. 17.

10.

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

19

Military Museum, Istanbul, inv. no. 26537; see Nurhan Atasoy,

Ota- Hmayun: Osmanl adrlar = Imperial Ottoman Tents (Istanbul, 2000), p. 147, g. 77; also see Resimli Kitap 3, 17 (Mart
1326 [March 1910]): 468. Photographs of same tent are also
in the same issue, p. 453, and in Resimli Kitap 2, 9 (Haziran
1325 [June 1909]): 947.
Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Ingolstadt, A. 1854; see Atasoy,
Tents, pp. 26263.
Sedad Hakk Eldem, Sa{dabad (Istanbul, n.d.), pp. 58, 8689;
Istanbul Univ. Library, photograph albums of Abdulhamid II,
no. 90473.
TSM, A. 3594, fol. 129b; Esin Atl, Levni and the Surname (Istanbul, 1999), p. 149.
TSM, H. 802, fol. 134a; see Atasoy, Garden, g. 4, p. 29.
Istanbul Univ. Library T 5461; see Atasoy, Garden, g. 11,
p. 31.
Atasoy, Garden, g. 24, p. 37.
Atasoy, Garden, g. 16, p. 34.
Gnsel Renda, Batililama dneminde Trk resim sanat 1700
1850 (Ankara, 1977), pp. 8084; Atasoy, Garden, pp. 264
69.