The pavilion of joy and happiness: Nüzhetiye
The Ihlamur buildings were ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid to be built by Karabet Balyan, one of the most famous architects of the period and the palace foreman. Constructed in the period from 1849 to 1855, the landscaping was done by the German gardeners working at the Dolmabahçe Palace.

Sultan Abdülmecid saw the name “Nüzhetiye”, meaning “freshness, joy and happiness,” appropriate for the region where Ihlamur Pavilions are located. Situated on an area of 24,724 square meters, the Ihlamur Pavilions consist of two structures, one for the official works and ceremonies of Sultan Abdülmecid, the Ceremony Pavilion, and the other for the Sultan’s entourage and occasionally for the harem, the Retinue Pavilion.

Traces of Baroque period in Ottoman architecture
The Ceremony Pavilion has a striking and ornate appearance. The Baroque architectural mentality is visible in the design of the two-armed staircase in front of the building and the façade of the mansion, the decorations of the rooms on both sides of the entrance hall and in the furniture. The Ceremony Pavilion, which is surrounded by cut stone and decorated mainly with marble, can be visited as a museum today.

The Retinue Pavilion has a two-armed staircase similar to the one in the Ceremony Pavilion, although it has been designed with a simpler and more traditional approach than its counterpart. The upstairs hall is surrounded by four rooms of the same size. The walls of these rooms are covered with different colored stuccoes. Today, the garden of the Retinue Pavilion serves as a resting place.

During the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, who ascended to the throne after the death of his brother, Sultan Abdülmecid, Ihlamur Pavilion was the venue of various entertainment events and wrestling tournaments. Frequently visited by the sultan and his entourage, Ihlamur Pavilions were granted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on March 3, 1924. The compound was allocated to the Istanbul Municipality in 1951, finally being transferred to National Palaces in 1966. The buildings, which were opened to visitors as a museum-palace in 1985, have reached their present appearance when the restoration works were completed in 1987.

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The cistern is 140 m long, and 70 m wide, and covers a rectangular area as a giant structure. Accessible with 52-step staircase, the Cistern shelters 336 columns, each of which is 9 m high. Erected at 4.80 m intervals from one another the columns are composed of 12 rows, each has 28 columns. The case-bay of the cistern is conveyed by the columns through arches. Majority of the columns, most of which is understood to have been compiled from the ancient structures and sculpted of various kinds of marbles, is composed of a single part and one of it is composed of two parts. The head of these columns bear different features in parts. 98 of them reflect the Corinthian style and part of them reflect the Dorian style. The cistern has 4.80 m high brick walls, and the floor is covered by bricks, and plastered by a thick layer of brick dust mortar for water tightness. Covering 9,800 sqm area in total, the cistern has an estimated water storage capacity of 100,000 tons.

Medusa Heads
Except couple of the edged and grooved columns of the cistern, majority of them are shaped as a cylinder. Two Medusa heads, which are used as supports under the two columns at the northwest edge of the cistern, are the great work of art from the Roman period. What attracts most attention from the visitors is that the structure from which the Medusa heads have been taken is unknown. The researchers often consider that it has been brought for being used as supports to the column at the time of construction of the cistern.  However, this has not prevented myths for the heads of Medusa.

As the legend has it, Medusa is one of the three Gorgonas that are female monsters in the underground world in Greek mythology.  The snake-head Medusa, one of the three sisters, has the power of gorgonising the ones that happen to look at her. Accordingly, Gorgone paintings and sculptures were being used for protecting big structures and special venues in that time. And putting the head of medusa in the cistern was for protecting purposes. According to another rumour, Medusa was a girl who boasted for her black eyes, long hair and beautiful body. She loved Perseus, the son of Zeus. Athena was also in love with Perseus and this made Medusa jealous. Therefore, Athena converted medusa’s hairs into snakes. Now, everybody that happened to look at Medusa was gorgonised. Afterwards, Perseus headed off medusa and beat many enemies by using her power.

Therefore, the head of Medusa was engraved on the handles of the swords in Byzantium, and applied onto supports of the communes in reverse (so that the onlookers would not be gorgonised). According to another rumour, Medusa  gorgonised herself by looking sideways. For this reason, the sculptor that made it generated Medusa in three different positions depending on the reflection angles of the light. The Basilica Cistern has been renovated repeatedly until today. It was repaired by the Architect Kayserili Mehmet Ağa during the reign of Ahmad III (M.1723) in the Ottoman Empire, followed by Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909) in the 19th century. There are 8 columns in front of the northeast wall towards the middle of the cistern, and they were exposed to the risk of breaking during the construction works in 1955-1960, thus each of them were surrounded by a thick layer of cement, so they lost their previous feature though.

During the rule of Byzantium, the Basilica Cistern used to meet the water needs and requirements of the great palace that covered a wide area where the emperor resided, as well as the other denizens in the region. After conquest of the city of Istanbul in 1453, it was used for a little while and water was supplied to Topkapı Palace where the sultans resided.. However, the Ottomans preferred running water over still water, and established their own water facilities in the city. It is understood that the cistern was not used thereafter and the western world did not notice it until the mid XVI century. It was in 1544-1550 when P. Gyllius, a Dutch traveller that came to Istanbul for making researches on Byzantium ruins was rediscovered and introduced to the western world. In one of his researches, P. Gyllius, while roaming around Hagia Sofia, managed to enter inside the cistern with a torch carrying in his hand by proceeding from the stone steps that went towards the underground from the backyard of a wooden building surrounded by walls situated on a large underground cistern as he was told that the householders there pulled water with buckets down inside the large round holes similar to well on the ground floor of their houses, and even fished there. P. Gyllius ranged around the cistern on a rowing boat under harsh conditions, measured it and identified the columns. The information acquired from his experience was published in the travel book, and Gyllius had influence on many travelers.

The cistern was subject to repeated renovations since its establishment. Renovated twice during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, the cistern was repaired during the rule of Ahmed III (1723) by the Architect Kayserili Mehmet Ağa for the first time. And the second repair was made during the rule of Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909). In republican period, the cistern was cleaned by Istanbul Municipality in 1987, and was opened to visits for creating a route. Another extensive cleaning was made in May 1994.

This mysterious venue is an integral part of the Istanbul itineraries and has been visited -among others- by the US former President Bill Clinton, Wim Kok the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Lamberto Dini, Former Minister of foreign Affairs of Italy, Göran Persson, Former Prime Minister of Sweden and Thomas Klestil, Former prime Minister of Austria until today.

Currently operated by Kültür A.Ş. (Culture Co.), one of the affiliates of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Basilica Cistern functions as a museum and is the home for many national and international events.

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Yıldız Palace, which was constructed as the administrative center of the state, reflects Sultan Abdülhamid II’s political attitude. The modern and simple mentality of the architecture, the fact that each unit is located in separate buildings, reveals an understanding that puts the sultan as the absolute ruler of the state and preserves the distance between the rulers and the officials. This is in sharp contrast to the intertwined bureaucratic structure of the Dolmabahçe Palace. This architectural approach is similar to the tradition in Topkapı Palace. The high walls surrounding the palace are interpreted as a way of protecting the sultan and his family against possible threats.

Yıldız Palace as a Center of Culture and Crafts
In addition to being the administrative center of the state during the reign of Abdülhamid II, Yıldız Palace also became a cultural and craft center with the addition of many buildings and manufacturing facilities. The presence of a printing house, a photography workshop, a theater, a painting gallery, small museums, a music studio and an observatory describes the Yıldız Palace as a space dedicated to culture and art. On the other hand, a china factory was established in the palace for the production of tiles and porcelain products, another one of the interests of the sultan, and the palace became a production center where traditional culture was lived. The sultan sent gifts of china and porcelain produced here to the rulers of the countries he had befriended. Abdülhamid also displayed an interest in carpentry, having a specialized woodworking shop built on the compound, he personally produced many important works, especially in carving. Sultan Abdülhamid II was forced to leave the Yıldız Palace in 1909. The Sultan, who was deposed and sent to Thessaloniki following the 31 March incident, never returned to Yıldız Palace after he arrived in Istanbul in 1912, spending the rest of his life in Beylerbeyi Palace.

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Today, the main structure of the Mabeyn and Harem sections is open to visitors, as well as its additional structures serving different purposes: the sea pavilions, the historical tunnel connecting Üsküdar and Beylerbeyi, Yellow Pavilion, Marble Pavilion and the Barn Stables are also noteworthy.

Beylerbeyi Palace, which shows the effects of western style on its exterior and features of the classical Ottoman palace structure inside, has been mostly used as a summer palace since its construction. The notion that Beylerbeyi is also a guest house allocated to high-level state guests, hosting Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, French Emperor Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, and Prince Nikola of Montenegro among others.

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Topkapı Palace is located in one of the oldest historical regions of Istanbul. Located on the historical Istanbul peninsula between the Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, the palace is one of the iconic structures of Istanbul. Topkapı Palace, established on an area of 700,000 square meters on the Eastern Roman acropolis in Sarayburnu, was the administrative, educational and artistic center of the empire for approximately four hundred years from Fatih Sultan Mehmet to the 31st Sultan Abdülmecid, as well as housing the dynasty. Although Topkapı Palace was gradually abandoned by the mid-19th century when the dynasty slowly moved to Dolmabahçe Palace, it preserved its historical importance and value.

After the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Topkapı Palace was converted into a museum on April 3, 1924, having the distinction of being the first museum of the Republic. Today, Topkapı Palace is one of the largest palace-museums in the world with its buildings, architecture, collections and approximately 300,000 archive documents.

Upon entering the sultanate gate, the palace structures consist of four transitional courtyards and the surrounding architectural structures. Among the palace structures surrounded by gardens and squares, are the first courtyard known as Alay Square, Hagia Eirene Church, Royal Mint, bakery, hospital, wood warehouse, and wicker makers’ house.

The second courtyard of the palace is Divan Square, notable for being where the state administration takes place, also called Justice Square. Divan-ı Hümayun (Kubbealtı), the scene of many ceremonies throughout history, was the official meeting place of the Divan council, and the treasury is located right next to it. The Justice Tower is located behind the Divan structure, the entrance to the Harem next to Kubbealtı, with the courtyard also housing the Ward of the “Zülüflü” Guards (The Tressed Halberdiers) and the Royal Stables.

The third courtyard of the palace is also called Enderun Courtyard. In this section houses the Sultan’s Audience Hall, Enderun Treasure, the Privy Room, as well as structures such as the Palace School established during the reign of Sultan Murat II.

In the fourth courtyard, which is the last courtyard, there are pavilions and hanging gardens of the Sultan. In this section, there are the Baghdad and Revan Pavilions and the Iftaree Gazebo, which are the most distinguished and aesthetically advanced examples of Ottoman classical mansion architecture. In the lower part of the fourth courtyard, Mecidiye Pavilion and the Wardrobe Chamber are the last buildings of the palace.

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