Burning Of The Turkish Goverment Offices At The Sublime Port

Description

A fire that broke out in the Council of State, located in the heart of the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali), raged continuously for six hours on May 23, 1878. The flames quickly spread to the surrounding area, completely destroying the offices of the Ministries of Justice, Interior, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Grand Vizier's Office. This catastrophic disaster went down as one of the most devastating government office fires in Ottoman administrative history. This engraving, published in The Illustrated London News on June 15, 1878, captures the Bab-ı Ali fire in all its horror and dramatic atmosphere. The newspaper's news text is as follows without any changes; “THE FIRE AT THE SUBLIME PORTE - The Imperial Palace of Government at Constantinople, as is well known, takes its name of “the Sublime Porte” from a huge gateway of marble, leading into the outer and the inner quadrangle, around which stand the official residences of the Sultan’s Ministers, including the Grand Vizier. There were situated within the portal in question the Mint, the Infirmaries, the Treasury, the Hall of Justice, and other edifices belonging to the old quarter of the Seraglio, such as the Church of St. Irene, built, it is said, by Constantine, and the meeting-place of the Second General Council, which the Turks have used as an arsenal. Some of these premises have been destroyed by the conflagration which broke out on the 23rd ult. at a very early hour of the morning, and of which our Special Artist, Mr. J. Bell, has supplied an Illustration. Of the principal range of buildings, only the wings at each extremity remain. Of these wings, one was the Grand Vizierate, the other the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The whole of the centre building, which contained the Ministries of the Interior, of Justice, and of Public Instruction, the Council of State, the great Divan, with their numerous departments and offices, was consumed. This consisted of the basement, the ground floor, and two floors above. The fire broke out in the Bureau des Procès-Verbaux of the Council of State, occupying the centre of the upper floor; and, notwithstanding stone partition-walls, swept rapidly along those interminable corridors which traversed the building from end to end. The origin of the fire is unknown, because all the apartments are put under the care of guardians an hour before sunset, when the functionaries leave. The building now destroyed was built thirty years ago, in the Grand Vizierate of Topal Izzet Pasha. Its outer and partition walls and its basement were of masonry. The structure it replaced (which also was destroyed by fire) was wholly of wood.”