Suleiman the Magnificent
This replica from the 16th century
exhibited in your room is of one of the 87 talismanic shirts from the
Collection of Sultan’s Clothing at Topkapi Palace and it is considered to
have belonged to Sultan Suleiman according to the prayers, motives and
meanings of the talisman on the shirt and therefore was adorned with one of
his poems…
With this Talisman, may the
victory be yours in every war you
fight…
Known as Suleiman the
Magnificent in the west and Suleiman the Lawgiver in the east because of his
fair leadership, he was a successful soldier, mighty sultan and one of a kind
statesman…
He was also a man of romance and a poet himself
who valued arts and artists. Their legendary love with his last wife Hurrem
Sultan gained a place in history.
Hurrem Sultan was an
infamously beautiful woman originally from Ruhtenia, then a part of Poland.
She drew all the attention of the Sultan with her beauty, intelligence and
femininity and gained a special place for herself in the harem and then she
became Sultan Suleiman’s legal wife. Yet she was not just a wife to the
Sultan, she was a woman who was madly in love with Sultan Suleiman and would
do everything for her love. Hurrem Sultan who wished her one and only love
Sultan Suleiman whose life was spent in campaigns would always come back to
her safe and sound and victorious therefore she requested a talismanic shirt
from the Head Augur.
After long and toilsome rituals,
Sultan Suleiman’s shirt was finished by tens of unknown skilful hands and
Hurrem’s prayer was that; Sultan Suleiman would come home victorious, safe
and sound from every battle he fights. It was obvious that the shirt was
related to the star system considering its motives largely based on stars and
other symbols of sky. On the other hand, infinity idea in Islam was put
forward through the infinite geometrical patterns that dominate the ornament.
Now it was time to send this exclusive shirt of the 16th century to its
owner. Sultan Suleiman would wear this shirt and the prayers would keep him
safe…
Days and months passed. Hurrem was able to console
herself with only the occasional letters she could get from her one and only
love. Then one day she heard the victory news. She was overjoyed that her
love, her life was returning home… She was euphoric. With never-ending fire
and yearning in her heart, she took her pen and wrote her love a letter in
the dead of the night:
My Sultan, My
Emperor;
"After I put my head to
the ground and kiss the soil under your feet blessed with your touch, the sun
of my nation and the cause of my happiness, if you ask about me, your servant
who has caught on fire from the zeal of missing you, whose heart is ripped
apart, whose chest is ruined, whose eyes are filled with water, who cannot
say if it is day or night, who was thrown in the sea of yearning, who is
desperate, mad with your love, worse than Ferhat and Mejnun*; I am a
nightingale whose cries would not die since I was separated from you, being
away from you put me in a state I wouldn’t wish even on my worst
enemy.
My nation, my sultan, since I have not heard a word
from you after one and a half months, God knows I have not had a moment of
peace, I have cried day and night, forgotten my life; whole world became
small in my tearful eyes, I was helplessly looking at the doors when Mighty
Lord of the universe, my Glorious God who gives his mercy upon everyone, who
blesses everyone brought me the word of your victory. And only he knows I was
dead, my sultan, my emperor, I came back to life again after hearing from
you…"
You can find one of the poems of Sultan
Suleiman the Lawgiver for his precious love Hurrem on this shirt presented in
your room…
*Aslı & Ferhat
and Leyla & Mejnun are two legendary couples in Turkish history such
like Romeo and Juliet.
