CONSTANTINOPO.L. (continued.
I devoted the entire next day to exploring the Seraglio, the Church of Svaty Sofsh, and the Hippodrome. I entered the city again through Baluk-Kapu, turned to LFVO, and along the ancient wall surrounding the Seraglio from the side of the city, I reached the first gate, called here variously, most often Baba-Gumayum (Brilliant Porte). I've been to Seralph three times; However, I cannot boast that I saw in him something that my friends had not seen or described before me. Upon entering the gate I named, I cleared the 065 sides of the depression (a kind of niche), where the severed heads of state criminals are displayed, they are the remains of enemies killed in the war. Behind the darkness comes the first courtyard, the State Duma Mint Chamber (Terap-Gane), the Divan of the Supreme Vizier and the ancient Church of St. Irene, now converted into an arsenal (). The gate leading from here to the second courtyard is called Orta Kalusi. There are two towers on either side: only Viziers are executed here. On the same first courtyard, on the forehead side of the Divan hall, are Sultan’s stables.
In the second courtyard, the so-called Spasenlya gate, Bab-shadem, leads to the throne room, where the Sultan allows foreign Poeslov to attend the court. The library, the baths, the treasury, the harem and ITS short time did not allow the information to examine everything in detail, as long as I had time to hide many interesting and valuable archaeological weapons, especially the ancient assailants, which were known to us only according to descriptions. There are also many ancient chalems, Ramskys, Greeks, especially knightly ones, from the times of the cross. Unfortunately, I have seen them. it is in the development of all this that it is of some kind of order and in general it is poorly maintained and is not even preserved from rust and dust; gardens occupy the rest of the entire space within the walls of the Seraglio (); The gardens are planted with various trees: plane trees, pyramidal poplars, and cypresses provide ample shade. Between them there are many piers, or gazebos, and terraces, supported by walls that are painted green. they are covered with many flowers of all kinds. There are many empty spaces to sing in this Sultan's garden; In general, everything here is raw, without taste; there is disorder and diversity everywhere.
In the treasury, as they say, great treasures are collected. This building is divided into four chambers: the first contains bows, swords, guns, sabers, in a word, all weapons presented as gifts to the Sultans; in the second, his rich wardrobe, carpets, pillows embroidered with gold and pearl - (") Here, in the middle of the knparii, there is still an ancient column. Many writers unjustly call it Yustnanova. I can say affirmatively that it is the same one that Theodostus Veliy erected, in memory of the defeat of the Gothes and their King Atanarik. This is sufficiently confirmed by the inscription on it, which has been preserved:
[fragment unreadable in scan of first edition]
|” iron; in the third, consummate headdresses, harnesses and accessories, decorated with multi-colored stones and diamonds, a lot of silver and gold dishes, watches, precious stones of all kinds; in the fourth, finally, chests filled with silver and gold coins. I won’t talk about the harem; I didn’t let him down, but I don’t want to repeat his stories. I only know that when one of the distant women gives birth to a son, it is a great happiness for her. She immediately received the name Gasseki, and special chambers; a court or servant is assigned to her, and she has free entry into SeralB everywhere, even without reporting, and whenever she wishes, she goes to the Sultan himself.
The view of the Seraglio is beautiful from the sea, or even better from the heights of one of the hills of Constantinople. He then imagines a huge mass of buildings surrounded by trees, located without symmetry, without any order or regularity: here are separate pavilions with rooms, there is a sick house on wooden arches. All this is picturesque, if you like; but the strangeness of this grandeur and taste, jumbled, indefinite, is such that it is almost impossible to describe, even if chance allowed me to dissect everything here freely and in detail.