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All Turkey Istanbul Beylerbeyi Palace

Beylerbeyi Palace

This former Imperial summer home was the venue for a royal slap that once echoed 'round the world.

Istanbul, Turkey

Added By
Gary Owens
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The courtyard Palace entrance, from which guided tours start   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
The courtyard Palace entrance, from which guided tours start   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
Beylerbeyi Palace viewed from the Bosphorus   Verity Cridland on Flickr
The palace and a bathing pavillion with the First Bridge in the background   Verity Cridland on Flickr
Entry to the Palace, complete with (guard) dog.   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
Grounds with a dry fountain’s craggy feature and statue of a large wild cat   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
Closer view of “The Courtyard Cat”   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
The entry way to the Palace has numerous recessed and stylized windows.   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
The, um, palace guard dog.   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
Courtyard access to the Bosphorus is walled and ornately gated (human for scale)   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
Beylerbeyi is adjacent to the First Bosphorus Bridge, as seen here from the palace grounds   gowens / Atlas Obscura User
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About

As with many centuries-old palaces, much of Beylerbeyi's best stories have undoubtedly been lost in the mists of antiquity, but it does have a few claims to fame beyond its proximity to the first bridge to span the Bosphorus and a host of stunning architectural features. 

The palace is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, on the shore of the Bosphorus Strait. Built in the 1860s as an Imperial Ottoman summer residence and house for entertaining foreign heads of state, the palace has been called a masterpiece. This is due in no small part to a certain well-balanced restraint demonstrated in the structure, at least when compared to the rococo excess embodied by some of Beylerbeyi's architectural peers. Of course, "restraint" is relative when palaces are the subject at hand. Take, for example, the fact that it only employed 5,000 men to complete, which was considered praiseworthy.

Beylerbeyi was built by Sarkis Balian, a member of the Balian architectural dynasty that was responsible for other Ottoman architectural masterpieces such as the Dolmabahçe Palace, the Ortaköy Mosque, and the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Gaziantep.

The palace was built to impress from the water, with its most stunning façade facing the Bosphorus itself. The reception hall has a fountain and a pool inside, and most rooms feature French Baccarat chandeliers. Two marble bathing kiosks – one for the harem, and another separate pavillion just for the men of the selamlik – flank the seawall, as a large manicured garden and patch of coppice forest extend from three sides of the building.

This tension between subtle opulence and insular casualness created an atmosphere ripe for dynamic human interactions as well. In one particularly amazing tale that would seem too good to be true if only it weren't recorded in the annals of history, the Empress Eugenie of France paid a visit to the Beylerbeyi while on a tour of the region to mark the grand opening of the Suez Canal. A fleeting error in custom saw the Empress commit a serious faux pas by entering the Palace on the arm of Sultan Abdulaziz. None too pleased, the sultan's mother issued a slap to her face that promptly notified the empress of her error.

The palace also was home to a harem for entertaining guests – considered de rigueur for centuries – as was the case in 1934 when the Shah of Iran stopped by for a visit. 

These days Beylerbeyi's strangest feature is a giant sculpture of a cat that seems to prowl the manicured palace grounds. Formed from metal and approximately ten times the size of Istanbul's real-life, notoriously adorable feral felines, the Courtyard Cat throws just enough weird into the Beylerbeyi's mix of looming regality that a visit to the waterside palace is a surefire win for any number of reasons. 

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Palaces Royalty Statues Architecture

Community Contributors

Added By

gowens

Edited By

littlebrumble, haydegha0917

  • littlebrumble
  • haydegha0917

Published

January 14, 2016

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Sources
  • http://www.frommers.com/destinations/istanbul/attractions/208917
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beylerbeyi_Palace
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balyan_family
Beylerbeyi Palace
Beylerbeyi Sarayı
Üsküdar
Istanbul, 34676
Turkey
41.043, 29.04
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