Dolmabahce Palace and Harem plus National Palaces Painting Museum which hosts Ivan Aivazovsky’s art. Paid $73 for three people. No pictures were allowed inside the palace, so we only have outside pics of the palace.
- The history of Dolmabahce Palace goes back 150 years. It is a newer palace and completely different in its style relative to the first Ottoman palaces in Istanbul built in the 15th century after the fall of Istanbul (Constantinople at the time) in 1453. The Dolmabahce Palace is built in the Neo-Baroccue style designed to rival European monarchs’ palaces of that time. It is a beautiful building on the shore of the Golden Horn, right by the waters. It felt like Venice and it could easily compete with the best European palaces. Unfortunately, the crystal stairs were under reconstruction but other than that, it was worthy the experience.
- There is also an art museum adjacent to the complex with Aivazovskiy’s painting inside among other artists. The access was included into the price.
- The first palace was built in Beyazit (near Grand bazaar) by the first Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II, who lived there during the construction of Topkapi Palace in Sultanahmet. The latter became the residence of most Ottoman Sultans. The Topkapi Palace served as a meeting center for governmental affairs and a school for future bureaucrats, but the Harem remained at the old palace. This has changed when Hurrem Sultan/Roxelana (her again going against the rules!), the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, requested the Harem in the Old Palace in Beyazıt to be moved to the Topkapi Palace. (Source:
https://istanbultravelblog.com/dolmabahce-palace-istanbul/.)
- One interesting observation of the Dolmabache Harem – the most beautiful, luxurious room there was the one of Sultan’s, not his mother or his legal wife(s)!
- D got entertained with the presence of the Circumsition room, where circumsized princes were resting after the procedure, which btw was pompously celebrated by the court and highly advertised around.
