Sightseeing

Museum of Painting and Sculpture

Museum of Painting and Sculpture
Resim ve Heykel Müzesi, This large fine arts museum, founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1937, is located in the Crown Prince's Suite (Veliaht Dairesi) at Dolmabahçe Palace. The Museum in Beşiktaş houses an extensive collection of Turkish and European works of art from the 19th and 20th centuries. There are over 10,000 paintings and…
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Museum of Palace Collections

Museum of Palace Collections
Saray Koleksiyonları Müzesi, The valuable artworks of the Ottoman Palaces are now exhibited in the original building of Dolmabahçe Palace Kitchens (Matbah-ı Amire). The Museum with a 2,000-m² exhibition area is located at the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. Until the opening of the depot-museum in 2006, these art pieces had been kept in the storage…
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Sultanahmed Mosque Complex (Blue Mosque)

Sultanahmed Mosque Complex (Blue Mosque)
Sultanahmet Camii Külliyesi  (1609-1620) If the armies of the Fourth Crusade had not razed Constantinople in 1204, we would have enjoyed visiting the Palace of Daphne, the oldest part of the gorgeous Great Palace of Constantinople. However, now, thanks to Sultan Ahmed (1603-1617), we have another magnificent monument, built almost four centuries after the fourth…
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Arasta Bazaar

Arasta Bazaar
Arasta Çarşısı  (Sipahi Çarşısı) The shop-lined street consisting of around eighty stores is a part of the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque Complex (Külliye). Built in 1617, this historical street is also called “Sipahi Çarşısı”, as the hardware of the Sipahi (Ottoman cavalry corps) were sold here during the Ottoman period. In Ottoman architecture, the stores of…
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Yenikapi Mevlevi Lodge

Yenikapi Mevlevi Lodge
Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi (1597) Yenikapi Mevlevi Lodge (Mevlevihane), referred to as "Mevlanakapı", was the most important (and the largest in Istanbul) Mevlevi lodge in Turkey after its main Mevlevi center in Konya. Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge was built in 1597 on the land donated by Malkoç Mehmet Efendi, the Chief Caliph of Janissary, nicknamed Kocabektaş, the neighborhood…
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Galata Mevlevi Lodge Museum

Galata Mevlevi Lodge Museum
The Museum of Divan Literature (1491) - Galata Mevlevihanesi ve Divan Edebiyatı Müzesi Founded by Divane Mehmed Çelebi Dede in 1481 during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, Galata Mevlevi Lodge Museum was the oldest Mevlevi Lodge in Istanbul and the second largest Lodge after Yenikapi Mevlevihanesi. As it is located on Galata, which was…
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Çırağan Palace

Çırağan Palace
Büyük Saray-ı Hümâyûn The construction of the Çırağan Palace, commissioned to Sarkis Balyan, was completed in 1871, eight years after construction had started. It covers the area of 76,400 m2 (664m X 115m). It was built in an eclectic style with an Eastern flair, mainly North African. The architectural style was inspired by  Alhambra, the…
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Feriye Palaces

Feriye Palaces
In later years of the Ottoman Empire, especially after Abdülmecid died in 1861, the Empire needed new residences for Abdülmecid’s family (25 wives and 43 children) and the other extended royal family members. Instead of sending them away, they kept them in the palace. Therefore, they built private residence buildings next to the Palace toward Ortaköy,…
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Small Mecidiye Mosque

Small Mecidiye Mosque
Küçük Mecidiye -Teşrifiye- Camii (1848) Built by Sultan Abdülmecid (1839-1861) in 1848, the Small Mecidiye Mosque was located on the Eastern entrance of the Yıldız Park, just behind the Çırağan Palace. The mosque is a part of the complex (külliye) built by Sultan Abdülmecid, which also included Sıbyan Mektebi (elementary school), medrese (theological school), and…
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Yıldız Palace Complex and Yıldız Park

Yıldız Palace Complex and Yıldız Park
The palace complex consisting of an Ottoman palace and a picturesque park with a spectacular view of the Bosphorus is one of the best spots in Istanbul. It was the fourth and the last palace complex of the Ottoman Empire after Mehmed II’s Old (first) Palace, the Topkapi Palace and the Dolmabahçe Palace. It consists…
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