Silent guardians of the regime: The ‘Lost’ police stations of the Topkapı Palace

This article examines the emergence of police stations as an architectural and institutional novelty that reflected the modernization and centralization of the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. At the heart of this paper lies the Topkapı Palace, the traditional residence of the Ottoman dynasty, which was abandoned by the imperial family in the nineteenth century and then took on new meanings and functions. The symbolic, religious, political, and historical significance of the Topkapı Palace endured and new buildings and institutions were established within the precincts of the royal complex. Numerous police stations were also erected in the Topkapı Palace from the reign of Mahmud II (1808-1839) onwards, which manifested the visibility and authority of the ruler and emphasized the changing military character of the state. Under the rule of Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) the number of police stations within the royal complex amounted to ten, which underlines the importance attributed to the symbolic and physical protection of the Topkapı Palace. This article explores the ideological, urban, and architectural implications of these police stations, which reflected the public control mechanisms of the regime. Some of the police stations built during the reign of Abdülhamid II at strategic points of the Seraglio were later demolished without any reliable documentation, and this article brings together textual, visual, and architectural information on the emergence and destruction of these ‘lost’ police stations.