Underground parts of Ottoman palace to be detected

Within the scope of ongoing excavation works at the Edirne New Palace (Saray-ı Cedide-i Amire), which hosted significant Ottoman sultans during the rise of the Ottoman Empire, underground parts of the palace will be detected using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technique.

Being laid in 1450 during the reign of Murat II and hosted Ottoman sultans such as Fatih Sultan Mehmet and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the Edirne New Palace is one of the significant cultural assets of Turkey.

With an aim to revive the palace built on an area of approximately 3 million square meters, excavation works are being carried out by Trakya University with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Gülay Apa Kurtişoğlu, associate professor at Trakya University Art History Department and the head of the excavations, said they have been trying to uncover the foundations of the buildings during the excavations they have been carrying out since 2018.

Stating that detailed excavations will be carried out in the new season to obtain important findings, Kurtişoğlu said: "This season we will continue working around the Akağalar Ward and Akağalar Mosque, where we started works last year. At the same time, we plan to work in the field separating the walls between the Alay Square and Divan Square."

Kurtişoğlu stated that the GPR scanning made an important contribution to the detection of structures underground.

Explaining that underground surveys were carried out during the works carried out last year, Kurtişoğlu said: "We use GPR scanning to view the foundations of structures that are underground. We did it at several locations last year. This year, we will do it in order to see the foundations of the...