The Bower

Located on the terrace between the New Garden behind Şevkiye Pavillion and the garden where Hasan Pasha Pavillion is situated (Hasan Pasha Garden), this small bower is reconstituted with a circular plan and six pillars by S. H. Eldem. Bowers, in which Eastern (Indian-Persian) and Western (French) influences traditionally coexisted, were present in Ottoman garden design as of early 18th century. This particular bower is depicted with depressed arches and a pyramidal spire in Melling’s panorama. In Melling’s Topkapı Palace plan, the bower appears on the same axis as the Şevkiye Pavillion at the lower level and the circular pool of the New Garden behind it. This juxtaposition indicates that the bower was designed during the time (between 1789 and 1791) these two structures were built. Along with the other surrounding structures, it must have been removed either in the first half of the 19th century or in 1871.