Çinili Köşk
Çinili Köşk stands within the outer walls of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, beside the leafy setting of Gülhane Park. Sultan Mehmed II built this two-storey pavilion in 1472 as a pleasure palace, while its Greek-cross plan shapes the building beneath the sloping ground.
Glazed bricks cover the exterior, with Central Asian forms recalling the Bibi-Khanym Mosque in Samarkand. Inside, blue-and-white tiles form hexagons and triangles, carrying flowers, leaves and clouds in the Bursa manner. White Persian-style plasterwork completes the decoration, while İznik tiles and Seljuk pottery fill the Museum of Islamic Art.
The pavilion served as the Imperial Museum from 1875 to 1891, then opened as a museum of Turkish and Islamic art in 1953. From the main entrance, the hillside reveals only one of its two floors.
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