Editing Sublime Porte (section)

==History==
[[Image:Imperial Gate Topkapi Istanbul 2007 002.jpg|thumb|200px|The Imperial Gate (''Bâb-ı Hümâyûn''), leading to the outermost courtyard of [[Topkapi Palace]], was known as the Sublime Porte until the 18th century.]]
The name has its origins in the old practice in which the ruler announced his official decisions and judgements at the gate of his palace.<ref name=Porten>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = [[Nordisk familjebok]] | edition = Uggleupplagan | volume = 21 (Papua–Posselt) | pages = 1418–1419 | title = Porten | publisher = Nordisk Familjeboks förslag aktiebolag | location = Stockholm | language = Swedish | year = 1915 | url = https://runeberg.org/nfca/0769.html}}</ref> This was the practice in the [[Byzantine Empire]] and it was also adopted  by [[Ottoman Turks|Ottoman]] Turk sultans since [[Orhan I]]. The palace of the sultan, or the gate leading to it, therefore became known as the "High Gate". This name referred first to a palace in [[Bursa]], Turkey. After the Ottomans had conquered [[Constantinople]], now [[Istanbul]], the gate now known as the Imperial Gate ({{langx|tr|Bâb-ı Hümâyûn}}), leading to the outermost courtyard of the [[Topkapı Palace]], first became known as the "High Gate", or the "Sublime Porte".<ref name=Porten /><ref name=Mondo>{{cite book | first = Ayla | last = Albayrak | title = Istanbul | series = Mondo matkaopas | page = 81 | publisher = Image | year = 2009 | language = Finnish | ISBN = 978-952-5678-15-4}}</ref>

When Sultan [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] sealed [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|an alliance]] with King [[Francis I of France]] in 1536, the French diplomats walked through the monumental gate then known as ''Bâb-ı Âlî'' (now ''Bâb-ı Hümâyûn'') in order to reach the Vizierate of Constantinople, seat of the Sultan's government.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} French being the language of diplomacy, the French translation ''Sublime Porte'' was soon adopted in most other European languages, including English, to refer not only to the actual gate but as a metonymy for the Ottoman Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sublime Porte - [Sublime Porte, Istanbul] |url=https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15059coll1/id/13/ |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=Musselman Library Special Collection and College Archives |publisher=[[Gettysburg College]] |language=en}}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=July 2023}}[[File:1913 Ottoman coup d'état.png|thumb|200px|Crowd gathering in front of the Porte's buildings shortly after hearing about the [[1913 Ottoman coup d'état]] (also known as the Raid on the Sublime Porte) inside.]]

In the 18th century, a new great Italian-styled office building was built just west of [[Topkapı Palace]] area, on the other side of Alemdar Caddesi (Alemdar street). This became the location of the [[Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire|Grand Vizier]] and many ministries. Thereafter, this building, and the monumental gate leading to its courtyards, became known as the Sublime Porte (''Bâb-ı Âlî'');<ref name="Eyewitness">{{cite book | first = Rosie | last = Aysliffe | title = Istanbul | series = DK Eyewitness Travel | page = 63 | publisher = Dorling Kindersley | location = Lontoo | year = 2014 | isbn = 978-1-4093-2925-1}}</ref> colloquially it was also known as the Gate of the [[Pasha]] (''paşa kapusu'').<ref name="Porten" /><ref name="TSK">{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = [[Tietosanakirja]] | volume = 4 (Kaivo–Kulttuurikieli) | title = Konstantinopoli | pages = 1295 | publisher = Otava | location = Helsinki | year = 1912 | language = Finnish | url = https://runeberg.org/tieto/4/0684.html}}</ref> The building was rebuilt following a fire in 1839,<ref name=":0" /> and badly damaged by another fire in 1911.<ref name="TSK" /> Today, the buildings house the [[Istanbul Governor's Office]].<ref name="Eyewitness" />