Sites to See in Istanbul
The Dolmabahçe Palace
Completed in 1856 after 13 years of construction, designed by the Armenian architect Karabet Balyan, the Dolmabahçe Palace is not to be missed. It stands gracefully at the edge of the Bosphorus. Designed in a mixed architectural style called Ottoman Renaissance, in imitation of Buckingham Palace in London and the Louvre in Paris, it was designed to give a more European feel for foreign dignitaries who would visit Istanbul, then known as Constantinople.
Its interior marble came from the Islands in the Sea of Marmara, its alabaster from Egypt and its porphyry stones from an ancient city called Pergamon. The walls were decorated with the works of Italian and French artists and frescoes painted by a famous Russian painter named Aiwazowsky. Among the other items of splendor in the Palace are gold and silver decoration, furniture from Paris, silk carpets from Lyon and Hereke, vases from Sevr, crystal from Baccarat and English candles.
All in total, for those interested in inventory, there are 285 rooms, 1427 windows, 43 halls, six balconies, six hamans, 156 clocks, 280 vases and 58 candlesticks.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the palace remained empty on and off for 32 years. Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, lived here when he was in Istanbul. He died here at this beautiful palace in Istanbul on November 10, 1938. Somewhere in my collection of photographs, I photographed the bed upon which he lay. It seemed a solemn place, the Turkish flag draped over a bed whose windows looked out at the waters of the Bosphorus.
Today it stands as a museum and one can tour its lovely buildings and gaze at the splendor in which some people have lived. This photograph was taken on my tour of the Palace, a window which gazed onto the Bosphorus.
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