In the foreground to the right the Alay Kösk, the object of this gallery.

Across the road the Sublime Porte, the gate to the palace and offices of the Grand Vezir, where from the middle of the 17th century most of the business of the Ottoman Empire was transacted (from Strolling through Istanbul; Redhouse). The present gateway, made of wood, dates from 1843.

A viewer inormed me, first as a comment (below), later by e-mail, thus:

The building to the right is the Pavilion of the Parades (Alay Köskü in Turkish), constructed directly over the walls of Topkapi gardens. This beautiful pavilion in baroque style that dominates the avenue in front of the Sublime Porte (gate of the Palace of the Great Vizier - Bab-i Ali, in Turkish) allowed the Sultan, in a dissimulated way, behind the lattices of its windows, to observe the entrances and exits from that Palace. It was also from here that in party days, like the commemoration of a Sultan’s ascent to the trone, the circumcision of a Prince, the departure of the troops for campaign, and so on, the Sultan assisted the parade ("alay") of the about 700 corporations of crafts that existed in Istanbul.

As a matter of fact, coopers, fishermen, dancers, musicians, butchers, bakers, goldsmith, boilermakers, taverners and traders of slaves, were some of these corporations that, with masters, laborers and apprentices paraded in allegorical cars, where its crafts were displayed, under the look of the Sultan.

The existence of these corporations grouped by quarters is a typical characteristic of Istanbul, since the time of the conquest of the city by the Ottomans, and that still lasts in our days.