Star Palace

Yıldız Palace, the last example of Turkish Ottoman palace architecture, is located on Yıldız Hill of Beşiktaş district. Sultan Ahmed I had the first pavilion built on this land, which was used as a hunting ground by the sultans since the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566) and registered with the Treasury-i Hassa. At the end of the 18th century, Sultan III. Selim had Yıldız Pavilion built for his mother Mihrişah Sultan and a fountain for his father. Sultan Abdulaziz, who usually resides in Yıldız Mansion during the summer months, had the Great Mabeyn Mansion built, then added the Malta and Tent Mansions to the outer garden, and the Fence Pavilion to the main part.

The main construction in the palace was Sultan II. It started during the reign of Abdülhamid (1876-1909) and was named Yıldız Palace-ı Hümayunu. In this period, the palace includes the private life of the sultan, buildings allocated to official officials, workshops such as repair shops, carpentry shops, and cultural and artistic structures such as theatre, museum, library. The palace has an inner garden known as Hasbahçe, which has a natural river view and a pool. There are small resting pavilions built independently of each other in different parts of this garden. The palace buildings, which were empty for a while after Sultan Vahdettin, were allocated to the Erkan-ı Harbiye Mektebi in 1924. The palace, which was left to the War Academies in 1946, was transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1978 and started to be museumized as of 1993 under the name of "Yıldız Palace Museum Directorate".