Beylerbeyi

About Beylerbeyi

The Beylerbeyi Palace is a 19th-century Ottoman palace located in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus. Commissioned by Sultan Abdulaziz and completed between 1861 and 1865, the palace served as a summer residence and a place to host foreign dignitaries. Its design combines European architectural influences, particularly Neo-Baroque, with traditional Ottoman interior decoration. Today, it functions as a museum open to the public.

Beylerbeyi is a quiet neighbourhood on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus in the Uskudar district of Istanbul, immediately north of the Bosphorus Bridge and directly across the water from Ortakoy on the European side, bordered by Cengelkoy to the north and Kuzguncuk to the south, with about 5,200 residents. It is among the most exclusive neighbourhoods of the city, where some of Turkey's wealthiest families own waterside homes. Its main landmark is the lavish nineteenth-century Ottoman Beylerbeyi Palace, the sultans' summer residence and guest house for distinguished foreign visitors, surrounded by several pavilions: the two small seaside pavilions, the imperial stables, the "sunken" marble pavilion and the yellow pavilion. Other landmarks are the eighteenth-century Hamid-i Evvel Mosque (Beylerbeyi Mosque) on the shore and the nineteenth-century road tunnel. The neighbourhood has a small harbour with a popular fishing dock and many restaurants, those on the harbour side moderately priced and those down the side streets cheaper, as well as art spaces such as the Akbank Beylerbeyi Art Gallery and the Urart Art Center. A stroll through Beylerbeyi with the palace and the waterside cafes makes one of the pleasantest half-days on the Asian side.

Where:

Istanbul, Türkiye