Manisa Sarayı

Manisa Palace (Ottoman Turkish: سراى عامره), located in present-day Manisa Şehzadeler, was used as the administrative center of the Saruhan Sanjak (Manisa) in the Ottoman Empire and was the palace where Ottoman princes held the sanjak governorship.

Manisa Palace was commissioned during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II. The palace, completed in 1403, was expanded and new structures were added during the reign of Sultan Mehmed I. After Sultan Mehmed III, when the education of princes outside Istanbul was prohibited, Manisa Palace was abandoned to its fate and was kept standing with minor repairs until the 18th century. In the 1922 Manisa fire, the wooden parts of the palace were completely burned. The only structure of the palace that survives to the present day is the Fatih Tower. On 27 November 2021, restoration work on the tower was initiated.

Mention in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname

"It is situated on the northern slopes of the city, on a land covered with tulip gardens. All four sides are built of brick like a fortress, and the four corners form a solid building. It has a wooden gate facing west. Its perimeter is 3,300 steps (2.4 km). There is a chief gardener appointed from Istanbul (the Palace) and 200 gardeners with yellow caps. These gardeners constantly maintain this garden as if it were a paradise and guard the valuables such as carpets belonging to previous sultans, various items, gold and silver sets, jeweled ornaments, fountains, goblets, as well as lead coverings and gilded flag standards. They are personally responsible for the repair and arrangement of this garden. After expenses are deducted from the income obtained from the garden, the remaining portion is sent as tax to the chief tax collector in Istanbul."

This is a place with groves reminiscent of paradise gardens and walking paths. When a person sits in its pavilions, the mind and soul are refreshed by the beautiful scent of its flowers. All the hundreds of thousands of colorful and fragrant plants and flowers that God created on earth to show His art are present in this vast garden like heaven.

The wise masters of the past planned this garden like a chessboard; they planted hundreds of thousands of fruit trees and, alongside them, many beautiful trees such as plane, poplar, cypress, willow, and weeping willow, all arranged in rows and orderly. This is a sultan’s garden with such shady, dense, and lush trees and walking paths.

Fatih Tower

The only structure that has survived to the present from the Manisa Palace (Saray-ı Amire) built in Manisa during the Ottoman period. The tower, constructed as part of the palace complex that served as the education and residence place of princes from the 15th century, has suffered various destructions throughout history; in the Republican era it was used for different functions for a long time. Today restoration works are in the final stage and the building is planned to be used as a museum.