The Dolmabahçe Palace

Hello, everyone! I hope preparations to head back to Elon are going well, and that you're all as excited as I am while getting ready for Istanbul!

The Dolmabahçe Palace

One place that we are visiting that I am looking forward to is the Dolmabahçe Palace. It was built between 1843 and 1856 on the Bosphorus Strait. Abdülmecid I, the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, ordered the palace to be built because the official palace of the sultanate at the time, the Topkapı Palace, was rather outdated. It was used as the official administrative palace for the Ottoman Empire (except between 1887 and 1909) until the Republic of Turkey was founded and the capital moved to Ankara. Even so, Atatürk still used the Dolmabahçe Palace as his summer home. 

The Crystal Staircase

Not only am I excited to visit this palace because of its unique history, but also just glancing through pictures online, it is extremely stunning in architecture and design. All of the original decorations, furniture, curtains, and carpets are still intact. Additionally, the Dolmabahçe Palace is where the famous Crystal Staircase made of Baccarat crystal is located. In fact, the Dolmabahçe is home to the world's largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers, including the world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier. Overall, the palace just sounds very beautiful as the walls and ceilings are covered with paintings by famous artists of that time, and in all the important rooms and halls the furnishings are differing shades of the same color. 

The Deathbed of Atatürk

Additionally, the room where Atatürk died is located in the Dolmabahçe Palace. When he died, every single clock in the entire palace was manually stopped and set at the time of his death, 9:05am. Although, most of the clocks in the palace have since been changed to different times, the clock in the room where Atatürk died is still set to 9:05. 

I am very excited to visit this exquisite palace, as well as everywhere else on the itinerary, and I've loved reading all the blog posts. See y'all soon! 

(Information taken from: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmabah%C3%A7e_Palace
http://english.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=356)