Three of the buildings in the first court at the main entrance, Çit Pavilion, Yaveran Apartments and Set Pavilion were rented to the IRCICA (Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture) in early 1980s in exchange for the buildings’ restoration.
Çit Pavilion (Çit Kasrı), built by Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876), was used as a reception hall during the periods of Sultan Abdülaziz and Sultan Abdülhamid II. Abdülhamid II put this one-story building to use as military headquarters during the wars against Russia in 1877-1878 and Greece in 1897. The building has been used as the IRCICA Library, housing 60.000 books and rare works, 1460 titles of periodicals, 186 manuscripts, 1000 maps, 4000 offprints, 4000 pieces of literature, 300 microfilms and microfiches, photograph archives consisting of 70.000 historical photographs, OMETAR Archives comprising of 150.000 items, IRCICA Activities Archives comprising of 2580 documents, and Bammate Archives including 2150 documents.
Yaveran Apartments, designed by Raimond D’Aronco in Chalet style, were used by the personal assistants to the high ranking military officers of the Sultan. The impressive one-story long building housed five offices.
Next to the Great Mâbeyn is the Set Pavilion (Seyir Köşkü), which was built for foreign diplomats who wanted to watch the official ceremony organized for the Sultan’s weekly visits to the mosque on Fridays. Because of its elevated base, it is called Set (meaning high ground) Pavilion. It was built in 1889 for German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Armory Pavilion (Silahhane Köşkü) was used as an armory. The building, located in the first court, was first converted to an armory museum and now is used for elegant dinner parties.
