ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the transformation of the Topkapi Palace during the period between the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, from a secluded and glorious seat of the Ottoman rulers to a tourist spectacle, and aims at questioning the role of travel accounts in this construction. It aims to trace the on-going and never-ending process of how a space turns into a place, through narratives and by addressing the changing perception and representation of one particular monument through the eyes of travellers of different periods. By the nineteenth century, the thick veil of mystery had started to disappear, and the palace embraced new sets of meanings. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the palace was beginning to be positioned as an actual museum. Finally, the chapter sheds light first on the multiple perceptions of a specific monument, and second, on how the genre of travel literature changed over time.
