Tiled Kiosk

The Cinili Kosk, the Tiled Kiosk, was built in 1472 by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror as a pleasure pavilion in the outer garden of Topkapi and is one of the few surviving secular buildings of 15th-century Istanbul. Stylistically it reveals Persian and Timurid influence: a tall cruciform main hall, pointed arcades and above all the eponymous turquoise and cobalt-blue glazed tiles that cover the walls like a permanent curtain pattern. Today it is part of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and houses a systematic collection of Islamic ceramics from the 12th to 19th centuries, focused on Iznik ware - the Ottoman counterpart to Chinese porcelain. The covered entrance portico is a 19th-century reconstruction after fire damage.