Yıldız Palace

About Yıldız Palace

Palace in Istanbul, Turkey

Yıldız Palace is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions, villas and kiosks spread over a wooded hill above the Bosphorus in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. Built in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the residence of Sultan Abdülhamid II and the seat of the Ottoman government in place of the waterside Dolmabahçe Palace, serving as the centre of power from 1876 until his deposition in 1909 and remaining in state use until 1922. Its name means "star". The complex consists of several buildings scattered among gardens, including the Great Mabeyn palace, the Şale Pavilion built to receive foreign guests such as the German emperor Wilhelm II, the Yıldız Hamidiye Mosque, a clock tower, the palace theatre and the porcelain factory that produced the most celebrated late-Ottoman ceramics, together with the extensive Yıldız Park with its old trees, ponds and the Malta and Çadır kiosks, which now serve as cafes. The main palace reopened to visitors after a long restoration. Yıldız differs from the other Bosphorus palaces in its intimate character, dispersed among the trees, and in its association with Abdülhamid II, who governed the Ottoman Empire from here for more than three decades.

Where:

Istanbul, Türkiye