Yildiz Palace Buildings Istanbul

State Apartments

At the very centre of this imperial complex, the last to be constructed, are the State Apartments (Buyuk Mabeyn) that were completely rebuilt by Sarkis and Agop Balyan in 1866 and unfortunately not currently open to the public.  

Yildiz Palace Museums

On the east side of them are two small museums.

City Museum

The City Museum (Sehir Muzesi) has a collection of Yildıiz porcelain made at the factory in the Park along with examples of wooden toys that were once sold in Eyup . There are excellent paintings by Sevket Dag, Ibrahim Calli, Hamit Gorele and Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu and other artists.  

Yildiz Palace Museum

The adjacent Yildiz Palace Museum exhibits many different items from the palace in the old Carpentry Workshop (Marangozhane) which was where Abdulhamid worked from and has some outstanding Art Nouveau furniture.

Armoury

Opposite across the courtyard is the Armoury (Silahane) (not open to the public) and the Assistants’ Apartments (Yaveran Dairesi) designed by Raimondo d’Aronoco that once accommodated the sultan’s aide-de-camp.

Yildiz Palace Theatre

Another d’Aronoco design can be found in a separate courtyard at the back of the State Apartments, the beautiful Yildiz Palace Theatre, which was a private entertainment centre for Sultan Abdulhamid . He would watch plays sitting alone in his own box above the entrance and the stalls below would remain empty as his subjects were prohibited from sitting with their backs to him. The theatre décor is in blue and gold and the dome is adorned with stars (“yıldız” in Turkish means star) and unfortunately is another building not currently open for public viewing.