Dolmabahce Palace

Almost three centuries ago, in the place of Dolmabahce Palace there was nothing but a wide bay. Where there is dry land today, the waters of the Bosphorus spread then. However, during the reign of sultans Ahmet I, the builder of the Blue Mosque, and later Osman I, the bay was filled in, hence homes its name, which from Turkish language literally means “filled garden”.

This beautiful 19th century palace that stands right by the Bosphorus is decorated in a typically Ottoman manner and is one of the great adornments of Istanbul. This symbol of the magnificence and decadence of the 19th-century Ottoman Empire is spectacular, with its 285 rooms, 43 large salons, 6 Turkish baths, and a 4000 kg Bohemian glass chandelier, and a facade overlooking the Bosphorus nearly a half a kilometer long. The first thing that one notices when entering the courtyard of Dolmabahce Palace is the beautiful French style gardens.The grandest of Ottoman imperial palaces, the Dolmabahce Palace was designed by the Armenian architects Karabet and Nikogos Balian on the orders of Sultan Abdulmecit (1839-61). When it was finished in 1856, the imperial family moved out of medieval Topkapi Palace to live in European-style opulence and never went back to Topkapi Palace which hosted them nearly 4 centuries. This is also the place where the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, Kemal Ataturk, died in 1938.