Dolmabahce Palace
Dolmabahce Palace was built by Abdulmecid where formerly stood the more modest palace of Mahmud II. The Balyan family of architects finished construction on the clock tower, mosque and palace in 1853. The crystal hanging-lamp in the reciprocal room, which weighs 4.5 tons, was a present from Queen Victoria and is said to be the largest in the world. As Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, died here on November 10, 1938, this palace holds special significance for Turks. Closed Monday and Thursday. 80680 Besiktas Tel: (0212) 236 90 00 Fax: (0212) 236 35 77

Beylerbeyi Palace
In the original wooden palace of Beylerbeyi, which was built by Sultan Mahmut II, his son Sultan Abdulmecit personally tested the new invention by Samuel Morse, the telegraph, in 1847.
He immediately issued a royal patent to Morse, the world's first patent for the telegraph. The palace later burned down, and Sultan Abdulaziz had a new one built in its place by his architect Sarkis Balyan.
Many famous guests, such as French Empress Eugenie, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, Persian Shah Nasireddin were received in this palace.
Sultan Abdulhamid, who had been sent in exile to Salonica, was brought back to Istanbul in 1912 to spend the rest of his life at Beylerbeyi where he died in 1918.
Closed Monday and Thursday.
81210 Beylerbeyi
Tel: (0216) 321 9320 / 321 9321

Ciragan Palace
This palace was built by Sultan Abdulaziz in 1861, who ascended the throne after Sultan Abdulmecit. It was designed by Nikogos Balyan and the construction carried out by Sarkis and Agop Balyan. In 1876, Murat V was placed in house arrest at ciragan on grounds that he was mentally ill and Sultan Abdulhamid took the throne. Murat lived at ciragan until his death in 1905.
The palace was being used as the house of parliament when it burned down in 1910. Today the restored ciragan Palace is a luxury hotel.

The Aynalikavak Mansion
This residence, which is on the same side of the Golden Horn as the Camialti and Taskizak docks, was built at the beginning of the 17th century. It stands right beside a grove called Hasbahce and took its contemporary shape at the beginning of the 19th century under Selim III. Aynalikavak is the biggest mansion in the Golden Horn and the only one in the area that remains today.
Closed to visitors

Hidiv Mansion
The residence of Hilmi Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, was built by the Italian architect Delfo Seminati at the beginning of the 20th century. It is located in a large grove above Cubuklu and is therefore also known as the Cubuklu palace or Cubuklu residence. The mansion was sold to the Istanbul municipality in the 1930s. The building's east front is square and the south and northwest sides are crescent-shaped. The inner salons are used as a restaurant, the upper levels as a hotel and the marble salon and gardens surrounding the residence as cafes.
Open every day.

Ihlamur Mansion
The Ihlamur mansion actually consists of two buildings, the Maiyet and the Merasim residences which are set in a large garden. Nikogos Balyan built them for Sultan Abdulmecit in 1855.
They were turned into a Tanzimat Period museum in 1950 and, after restoration, were opened to the public.
Closed Monday and Thursday.
Ihlamur, 80690 Besiktas
Tel: (0212) 258 8903 / 259 5086

Kucuksu Mansion
In the region on the Bosphorus shore that is called "Sweet Waters of Asia" by the Westerners, there was a picnic area between the two streams that was frequently visited by the elegant and elite population of Istanbul for their daytime excursions and entertainment. The mansion was designed by the chief architect of Abdulmecid, Nikogos Balyan.
Closed Monday and Thursday. 81220 Anadolu Hisari Tel: (0216) 332 3320

Maslak Mansions
These are hunting lodges in Ayazaga, the hunting grounds of the Sultan which bordered on the Levent neighborhood in Ottoman times. These lodges were built by Sultan Abdulaziz.
Closed Monday and Thursday.
80670 Maslak-Levent
Tel: (0212) 276 1022

Sale Mansion
This residence inside the Yildiz Palace complex was designed in three parts. The first part was built in 1879-80 and the second in 1889 by architect Sarkis Balyan. The third portion for ceremonials was completed in 1898 by Italian architect Raimondo d'Aronco. Since 1985 it has served as a museum of Yildiz Palace.
Closed Monday and Thursday.
80700 Yildiz-Besiktas
Tel: (0212) 259 4570 / 259 8977

Sepetciler Mansion
A series of seaside residences on the historic peninsula were a part of Topkapi Palace. The only remnant of these residences is the Sepetciler Mansion, which was built by the architect Davut Aga. The Sepetciler were a division of the Bostancilar, the palace guard. Today the building serves as the International Press Center.

Tiled Mansion (Cinili Kosk)
This residence is in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum. It was the first residence of Fatih Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror who wanted to have his palace in this area. The tiles, which decorate the entire building, show the dominant influence of the Seljuk style. Today, the most beautiful examples of Turkish tile-making can be seen here.
Closed in the morning and on Monday.
Osman Hamdi Bey Yokusu, Gulhane
Tel: (0212) 520 7774

Topkapi Palace
Directly north of (ie behind) Haghia Sophia are the walls shielding the imperial enclave of Topkapy Palace. Part command centre for a massive military empire, part archetypal Eastern pleasure dome, the palace was the hub of Ottoman power for more than three centuries, until it was superseded by the Dolmabahce Palace in 1853. In terms of lavish decor and exquisite siting, it rivals Granada's Alhambra and beats hands down almost anything else in Europe. At least half a day is needed to explore the place fully, although given the high admissions you might want to take a full day over it to get your money's worth. If pushed for time, the must-see elements are the Harem, Imperial Treasury and the views from the fourth and innermost courtyard.
Entrance is via the Imperial Gate (Bab-i Humayun), erected by the Sultan Fatih in 1478 and decorated with niches that during Ottoman times were used to display the severed heads of rebels and criminals. The gate leads into the first of a series of four courts that become more private the deeper into the complex you penetrate. The First Court was public and not considered part of the palace proper. It housed a hospital and dormitories for the palace guards, hence the popular name, Court of the Janissaries. Off to the left is the church of Haghia Irene (Aya Irini Kilisesi), built by Justinian and thus a contemporary of Haghia Sophia. It has the distinction of being the only pre-Ottoman-conquest church in the city that was never turned into a mosque. Closed most of the time, the church serves as a concert venue during the International Istanbul Music Festival.
Still in the First Court, down the hill to the left, is the superb Archaeological Museum, but the palace proper is entered through the Disneyesque gate ahead. Tickets can be bought on the right, just before you reach the gate, beside the Executioner's Fountain, where the chief axeman washed his blade after carrying out his grisly work. The heads of his victims were also displayed on top of the truncated columns that stand on either side of the fountain.
A semi-public space, the enormous Second Court is where the business of running the empire was carried out. This is where the viziers of the imperial council sat in session in the divan, overlooking gardens landscaped with cypresses, plane trees and rose bushes. Where once there would have been crowds of petitioners awaiting their turn for an audience, nowadays there are queues lined up waiting to get in to the Harem , an introverted complex of around 300 brilliantly tiled chambers on several levels, connected by arcaded courts and fountain gardens. Unfortunately, access is severely limited: you must wait to join a group that leaves every half-hour and is led through no more than a dozen chambers by an official guide. It's not the ideal way to see the place - locked in a crowd and herded around - but it's the only way. Tickets are sold separately, from a window located beside the Harem entrance.
Around from the Harem ticket window, a low brick building topped by shallow domes is the former State Treasury, present home of an exhibition of arms and armour, interesting for the contrast between cumbersome, bludgeonly European swords and the lighter, more deadly-looking Ottoman model. Across the gardens, a long row of ventilation chimneys punctuates the roof line of the enormous kitchens, which catered for up to 5,000 inhabitants of the palace.
They now contain a collection of ceramics, glass and silverware, much of it originating from China and Japan and imported via Central Asia along the legendary Silk Route. The earliest pieces are Chinese celadon, particularly valued by the sultans because it was supposed to change colour when brought into contact with poison.
All paths in the Second Court converge on the Gate of Felicity (Bab-us Saadet), which serves as the backdrop every year for a performance of Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio - again, part of the International Istanbul Music Festival. The gate also gives access to the Third Court.
The Third Court was the holy of holies, the sultan's private domain. Confronting all who enter is the Audience Chamber (Arz Odasy), which is where, until it was supplanted in the role by the Sublime Porte , foreign ambassadors would present their credentials. Although the sultan would be present on such occasions, he would never deign to speak with a non-Turk and all conversation was conducted via the grand vizier.
Off to the right is the Hall of the Campaign Pages (Seferli Kogusu), whose task it was to look after the royal wardrobe. They did an excellent job: there's a perfectly preserved 550-year-old, red-and-gold silk kaftan worn by Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople.
Things get even more glittery next door in the Imperial Treasury (Hazine). Many of the items here were made specifically for the palace by a team of court artisans, which at its height numbered over 600. A lot of what's displayed here has never left the confines of the inner courts. Not that too many people outside the sultan's circle would have had much use for a diamond-encrusted set of chain mail or a Koran bound in jade. Items like the Topkapy Dagger, its handle set with three eyeball-sized emeralds (one of which conceals a watch face), are breathtaking in their excessiveness, vulgarity and sheer bloody uselessness.
From the ridiculous to the sublime: the final and Fourth Court is a garden with terraces stepping down towards Seraglio Point, the protrudance of land that watches over the entrance to the Golden Horn. Buildings are limited to a bunch of reasonably restrained pavilions, while the views over the Bosphorus are wonderful, as are the sea breezes on a sun-beaten summer's day. The very last building to be constructed within the palace, the Mecidiye Pavilion (Mecidiye Kosku), built in 1840, houses a restaurant and cafe, notable for its covetable terrace seating.

Open 9am-5pm Mon, Wed-Sun. Harem 10am-noon, 1-4pm Mon, Wed-Sun; closed Tue. Admission $9; Harem $7; Treasury $7.
34400 Sultanahmet
Tel: (0212) 512 0480 - 512 0484

Yildiz Palace
The area that comes into view after crossing the Besiktas shore to the northwest used to be a forest in Byzantine times. Beginning in the era of Suleyman the Magnificent, the sultans made it their hunting grounds. In the centuries to come, it remained as a grove behind the seaside residences. The first building was constructed in this area by Sultan Selim III. The real development of Yildiz Palace begins in the second half of the 19th century under Abdulhamid II. Architects Sarkis and Agop Balyan designed the mansions named Buyuk Mabeyn, Sale, Kucuk Sale, Malta and Cadir.
The winter gardens and greenhouses, guardhouse, harem, Yaveran mansion, stables, theater house and exhibition building were all planned by the architect d'Aronco.
The Yildiz complex of palaces, residences and administration, security and service buildings, scattered over 500,000 square meter park area, carry the memories of many events from Turkey's recent history.
In 1834, a residence named Yildiz was built by Sultan Mahmud II, and the palace built later on the site, as well as the neighborhood around the palace, were called Yildiz. In 1842, Sultan Abdulmecid built a second residence there for his mother.