Ordered by Abdulmecid I and built between 1843-1856, the Dolmabahçe Palace served as the administrative center of the late Ottoman Empire. With its 285 rooms and 43 halls, this giant building has a unique mixture of Baroque, Rococo Neoclassical styles and traditional Ottoman architecture. The construction of the Palace cost 35 tonnes of gold.
Six of the last Sultans of the Ottoman Empire lived in that Palace, the Caliphate Abdulmecid being the last in 1924. After the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the administration was transferred to Ankara, the new capital of the Republic, and Mustafa Kemal used the Dolmabahçe Palace only when he came to Istanbul. He died in his room in this Palace and his body was taken back to Ankara. After his death, the Palace was converted into a museum and his room was kept as in the original. You can visit that amazing Palace to breath the glamour of history in.
Note that the Palace is visited through the agency of a guide. If you don't have your own, you will be grouped into a tour with others who arrive around the same time.
