Mehmed II had found the Great Palace of Constantinople largely in ruins after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

The Ottoman court had initially set itself up in the Old Palace (Eski Sarayı), today the site of Istanbul University.

The Sultan now searches for a better location and chooses the old Byzantine acropolis, ordering the construction of a new palace in 1459.

It is originally called the New Palace (Yeni Sarayı) to distinguish it from the previous residence. (It will receive the name "Topkapı" in the nineteenth century, after a (now lost) Topkapı Gate and shore pavilion.)