Çırağan Palace (pronounced "Chiraan"), once
the residence of the last Ottoman Sultans, has been restored to its former glory
and is the only luxury hotel on the Europian shoes of the Bosphorus.
The Sultan's Palace,
built in wood at the end of the 16th century and then rebuilt in marble for
Sultan Abdülaziz in 1857, was badly damaged by fire in January 1910 and lay
derelict and abandoned until 1986.
Lovingly restored for the Kempinski
Hotel Group, the Palace has given a new meaning to the word "Luxury".
HistoryThe area where Çırağan
Palace Hotel Kempinski Istanbul now stands was known, in the 17th
century, as Kazancioglu Garden. In the second half of
the 16th century, High Admiral Kilic Ali Pasha had a waterfront house here, and
in the 17th century (1648) Sultan Murat IV gave the imperial garden to his
daughter, Kaya Sultan, and her husband, Grand Vizier Melek Ahmet Pasha. They had
a small wooden mansion built here in which they would spend the summer months.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Ahmet III presented the house and grounds
to his son-in-law, Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha of Nevsehir, who organized
torchlight fetes known as Çırağan Senlikleri (Çırağan
Festivals) with his wife, Fatma Sultan. It was then that the area became known
as Çırağan.
Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the English ambassador Edward
Wortley Montagu, who lived in Istanbul between 1717-1718, wrote of the
original Çırağan Palace in her letters, published after her
death: "It is situated on one of the most delightful
parts of the canal, with a fine wood on the side of a hill behind it. The extent
of it is prodigious; the guardian assured me there were eight hundred rooms in
it, I will not however, answer for that number since I did not count them; but
'tis certain the number is very large, and the whole adorned with a profusion of
marble, gilding and the most exquisite painting of fruit and flowers. The
windows are all sashed with the finest crystalline glass brought from England,
and here is all the expensive magnificence that you can suppose in a palace
founded by a young man, with the wealth of a vast empire at his command."
This original palace
was to be torn down and rebuilt many times over the next two centuries. After
the rebellion of 1730 which brought the great Tulip era to an end, the palace
was left empty and fell into disrepair. It was finally taken over by Mahmut I
and used as a banqueting hall for foreign ambassadors.
Selim
III's Grand Vizier Yusuf Ziya Pasha bought the Palace, demolished it,
and commissioned Kirkor Balian to build a new palace in marble which he
presented to the Sultan in 1805. Selim III then gave the Palace to his sister,
Beyhan Sultan, but she returned it. This palace, used as a summer house during
the reign of Mahmud II, was again demolished and rebuilt on a large scale by
Garabed Balian in 1835-1843. Although great quantities of wood were used, the
main section was made from marble and stone and included forty classical
columns.
When Sultan
Abdulmecid decided to move his official residence to Dolmabahce Palace
in 1855, the Ciragan Palace was torn down again , to be replaced by an imposig
stone edifice designed by Nigogos Balian, and the foundations of the present
palace were laid. However, due to financial problems and the "Kuleli
olayi" (an uncovered conspiracy to assassinate the sultan) the construction
of the palace was only half finished. It was only completed in 1857, after
Abdulaziz acceded to the throne. Abdulaziz demanded his palace to be built in
Arab style as a memorial to his reign. Artists were sent to Spain and North
Africa to make drawings of the famous buildings there.
The story goes that the
Sultan interfered with the design so much that the plans were redrawn twenty
times before he was satisfied. The palace doors, each worth one
thousand gold pieces, were so admired by "Kaiser Wilhelm" that some
were presented to him as a gift and stand today in Berlin Museum. The finest
marble and mother-of-pearl were brought from all over the world for the new
Çırağan Palace; construction was completed at a total cost of
five million Ottoman gold liras. But Sultan Abdulaziz only lived here for a few
months before pronouncing it to be too damp to stay in and moving out again.
This former residence of king was destined to share the fate of the declining
Ottoman Empire.
Sultan
Murat V, deposed during a military takeover, was held prisoner here
with his family until his death in 1904. After this the palace became the new
location for parliament and was opened on November 14, 1909. Parliament convened
here for just two months before a fire, which broke out in the central heating
vents, destroyed the entire palace in just under five hours, leaving only a
stone shell. Priceless antiques, paintings and books were lost, along with many
vital documents. In 1946, Parliament gave the palace, its outbuildings and
grounds, to Istanbul Municipality where it was used as a dumping ground for sand
and other construction materials. It was also used as a swimming pool and was a
football ground for the local team. It seemed only a matter of time before the
last remnants of the former palace would be torn down once and for all.