DOLMABAHCE PALACE (DOLMABAHÇE SARAYI)
Where Dolmabahce Square is now 250 to 300 years ago, there was nothing but a wide bay. Where there is dry land today, the waters of the Bosphorus rolled then. In the reigns of sultans Ahmet I, the builder of the Blue Mosque, and Osman I, sometimes called «Young Osman», the bay was filled in and thus got its name Dolmabahce or filled garden.
It seems to have been the special fate of this lovely coast to have attracted the building of many palaces. The first of these was the fabulous wooden palace of Beºiktaº with Dolmabahce beside it. Decorated as it was in a typically Ottoman manner, it was one of the great adornments of Istanbul. During the reign of Sultan Mahmut II, the famous painter Melling arrived in Istanbul, putting the palace garden in order, and depicting the loveliness of the imperial establishment in many of his prints, in these pictures, one notices the characteristic ornamentations of this wooden palace, the flowering plants about it, the whole charming residence resting as though upon the sea.
In 1809, in the time of Mahmut II, the palace was extensively repaired. Following Mahmut II, Sultan Abdulmecit resided here, and later commanded the palace rebuilt in the European manner. He had already built a western-style pavilion at the historic Topkapi Palace, the home of his imperial ancestors. He had abandoned his residence at the Topkapi Palace, though, the last of his dynasty to call the ancient walls 'home'.
The period of Abdulmecit was, in every way influenced by the life and the philosophy of the west where the industrial revolution had accomplished its enormous changes and where the bourgeoisie had attained new affluence. Abdulmecit's reign is one of the most important phases of Turkish history. Doctors, soldiers and engineers all were sent to Europe to learn the best of the western world. And specialists representing these three professions were invited, by Turkey, to assist in the rejuvenatation of these areas of Turkish life. The Army and the system of technical education were the first areas of Turkish society to manifest the improvements of this enlightened epoch. Other fields of Turkish life were as quickly influenced by the spirit of innovation abroad in the Empire. The first laws, patterned after those in use in western Europe, governing commerce and industry were adopted. An enthusiastic philosophy of reform found a tolerant atmosphere in which to expand during this reign. The institution of the monarchy itself began to imitate the monarchies of western Europe in its daily life and in its manner of dress. Abdulmecit was not only the first Ottoman Sultan to attend a ball, he also danced at that ball. Personally, he was open-minded, good-willed and sensitive.
But the reign of even this enlightened monarch was not exempt from certain negative developments. Ottoman handicraft suffered by being forced to compete with large scale European methods. And the monarchy, by too carefully imitating the splendors of the courts of the west, wasted too much of its substance in typical nineteenth century pomp.
The palace, seen from the perspective of our own times, the product of its age, an age when the splendor and glitter of the great structure itself and the life of its inhabitants, lay in the shadow of unrewarding foreign engagements and increasing debts. Reflecting all this sunset period of the monarchy, one might well remember the social laws proclaimed 700 years ago by the North African philosopher Ibn Khaldoun regarding states on the verge of demise 'Wasteful expenditure and pomp, rich and luxurious life, and a gradual collapse; a sad and unavoidable decline and end.'
The builder of Dolmabahce Palace, Sultan Abdulmecit, died here, when still quite young, of tuberculosis. His brother, and successor. Sultan Abdulaziz though he built a strong navy, and was the first Ottoman Sultan whose interests caused him to visit western Europe, was dethroned on 29 May 1876 because of wasteful expenditures and alleged despotism. The fleet, which turned its guns upon the palace, the cadets of the Military Academy, and state officials collaborated in overthrowing Abdulaziz, who was retired to a simple palace at Ortakoy on the Bosphorus.
The founder of the Turkish Republic, the great Kemal Ataturk established Ankara, in the heart of Anatolia, as the capital of the new Turkey. The government and all its functions were now transferred to the youthful capital. On his visits to Istanbul, Ataturk occupied only a small room at Dolmabahce Palace as his own. He made of the palace itself as a practical centre for national, historical, and language congresses, and for international conferences. An interesting fact is that, in 1930, the Alliance Internationale de Tourismel congress was convened, by order of Ataturk, and on the initiative of Reshid Saffet Atabinen, founder of the Touring arid Automobile Club of Turkey, at Dolmabahce Palace.
Famous visitors to the palace during the times of the Ottoman Sultans included such personages as Empress Eugene of France, who came repaying the visit of Sultan Abdulaziz. to France; Emperor Franz Josef of the Austra-Hungarian Empire; the Grand Duke Constantine; the Grand Duke Nicholas; Kaiser Wilhelm II; Bulgarian King Ferdinand Serbian King Peter; and Emperor Karl of the Austro - Hungarian Empire. During the period of the Republic, eminent visitors have included the Shah of Iran, Riza Pehlevi; King Faysal of Iran Abdullah of Jordan; King Amanullah of Afghanistan; Edward Prince of Wales, Charles de Gaulle etc.
The first impression the visitor has is that of the magnificent palace garden. Handsome garden lamps, painted white, line the pebbled roads. Rare flowers bloom in marble vases. A large formal pool, just opposite the imposing entrance to the palace, reflects the green, gray, and blue colours of conifers and magnolias. A tall ornamental fountain attractively graces the centre of the pool.
The facade of the palace is in Empire and Baroque style and seems the result of a dream, with its balconies and its columns of dazzling white marble. The famous writer Theophile Gautier describes the exterior appearance of the palace as follows : 'The enormous construction of Marmara marble, of a bluish white which the strident clamour of modernity makes seem a bit cold, produced a truly majestic effect between the azure of the sky and the azure of the sea, the effect is even better when the hot sun of Asia, shining directly upon it, gilds it with its rays.'
Assuredly, Vignola would not recognize himself in this totally hybrid facade, where the styles of all countries and all times form a composite order which he could not have forseen. But one cannot deny that this multitude of flowers, scrolls, rose-windows, carved like jewels out of precious materials, produces a luxuriant impression, complicated, fastidious, and delightful to the eye. This is a palace which might have been built by a sculptor of ornaments who spared neither craftsmanship, time, nor expense.
