Dolmabahce Palace: Istanbul’s Architectural Landmark

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit a European-style palace from the Ottoman Empire’s glory days.

Viewed from Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, Dolmabahce Palace features a classical, European-designed façade with a grand central section flanked by two wings. The palace is the only mono-block structure (a single, unified building) in Istanbul, and its stone facade spans more than 480,000 square feet. Joshua Davenport/Shutterstock

Located on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait, Dolmabahce Palace is the largest palatial residence in Turkey. The 11-acre structure features 285 rooms, 46 halls, 68 washrooms, and six Turkish baths. The palace displays a stunning synthesis of Western and Eastern architectural designs by blending baroque, rococo, and neoclassical styles with Ottoman-era flair.

Shifting from the old-world style of the Topkapi Palace, which was the former administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abdulmecid I (1823–1861) hired architects Garabet Balyan and Nigogayos Balyan to design his era’s European-style dream palace. The construction of Dolmabahce Palace began in 1843 and took 13 years to complete.