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The Dolmabahçe Palace (Dolmabahçe
Sarayı) in
Istanbul,
Turkey, located at the
European side of the
Bosporus, served as the main administrative
center of the
Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1922, apart from
a twenty-year interval (1889-1909) in which the
Yıldız Palace was used.
The Dolmabahçe Palace was built
between the years 1843 and 1856, ordered by the
Empire's 31st Sultan, Abdülmecid I, at a cost of
five million
Ottoman gold pounds, the equivalent of 35
tonnes of gold. Fourteen tonnes of gold in the
form of gold leaf were used to gild the ceilings
of the 45,000 square metre monoblock palace,
which stands on an area of 110,000 m². Hacı Said
Ağa was responsible for the construction works,
while the project was realised by architects
Garabet Balyan, his son Nigoğayos Balyan and
Evanis Kalfa.
The design contains eclectic
elements from the Baroque, Rococo and
Neoclassical styles, blended with traditional
Ottoman
architecture to create a new synthesis. The
palace layout and décor reflect the increasing
influence of European cultural standards on
Ottoman
culture during the Tanzimat period.
Functionally, on the other hand, it retains
elements of traditional
Ottoman
palace
life, and also features of traditional Turkish
homes. It is the largest palace in Turkey, considering
that the area of the monoblock building occupies
45,000 m². Previously, the Sultan and his family
had lived at the
Topkapi Palace, but as
Topkapi was lacking
in up-to-date luxury and style, Abdülmecid
decided to build the Dolmabahçe Palace near the
site of the former Beşiktaş Palace on the
Bosporus, which was
demolished. Whereas the
Topkapi has exquisite examples of Iznik
tiles and Ottoman
carving, the Dolmabahçe palace contains much
gold and crystal. Tourists are free to wander
Topkapi at their
leisure, while the only way to see the interior
of Dolmabahçe is with a guided tour.
The Dolmabahçe Palace was home
to six sultans from 1856, when
it was first inhabited, up until
the abolition of the Caliphate
in 1924: The last royal to live
here was Caliph Abdülmecid
Efendi. A law that went into
effect on March 3, 1924
transferred the ownership of the
palace to the national heritage
of the new Turkish Republic.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the
founder and first President of
the Republic of Turkey,
used the palace as a
presidential residence during
the summers and enacted some of
his most important works here.
Ataturk
spent the last days of his
medical treatment in this
palace, where he died on
November 10, 1938.
The world's largest Bohemian
crystal chandelier is in the
center hall. The chandelier, a
gift from Queen Victoria, has
750 lamps and weighs 4.5 tonnes.
Dolmabahçe has the largest
collection of Bohemian and
Baccarat crystal chandeliers in
the world, and one of the great
staircases has bannisters of
Baccarat crystal.
The site of Dolmabahçe was
originally a bay on the
Bosporus which was reclaimed
gradually during the 18th
century to become an imperial
garden, much appreciated by the
Ottoman sultans; it is from
this garden that the name
Dolmabahçe (Filled Garden)
comes from, dolma meaning
"filled" and bahçe
meaning "garden." Various summer
palaces were built here during
the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries.
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