Topkapı Palace
Following the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, Topkapı was transformed into a museum by a government decree dated April 3, 1924. The Topkapı Palace Museum is administered by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public today, including the Ottoman imperial harem and the treasury, called "hazine" where the Spoonmaker's Diamond and Topkapi Dagger are on display. The museum collection also includes Ottoman clothing, weapons, armor, miniatures, religious relics, and illuminated manuscripts like the Topkapi manuscript. The complex is guarded by officials of the ministry as well as armed guards of the Turkish military. Topkapı Palace is part the Historic Areas of Istanbul, a group of sites in Istanbul that were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Toompea
The much-rebuilt Toompea Castle – consisting of the czarist era governor's palace, walls and towers of the medieval fortress, the expressionist parliament building dating from 1922, plus a few other buildings – now houses the Estonian Parliament. The facade of the classicist governor's palace dominates "Lossi plats" ("Castle square"), where the Orthodox Alexander Nevsky Cathedral overtops it. The cathedral, nowadays the main church of the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, has become for tourists somewhat of a symbol of Tallinn due to its exotic look, while the opinion of Estonians about it is rather ambiguous. The Lutheran Cathedral ("Toomkirik") from which the name Toompea was originally derived, is now the seat of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church and has perhaps best retained a medieval look among the buildings of Toompea. Most of the buildings in Toompea date from the 18th and 19th centuries. While the Small Castle has generally preserved its shape, nothing but a few fragments remain of the Great Castle's walls and towers.