About This Image

Signed and numbered in the negative by the photographers. A couple of light spots in sky, but otherwise a very rich and scarce image.Dolmabahçe Palace located in the Be?ikta? district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosphorus, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and 1909 to 1922. Dolmabahçe Palace was ordered by the Empire's 31st Sultan, Abdülmecid I, and built between the years 1843 and 1856. Previously, the Sultan and his family had lived at the Topkap? Palace, but as the medieval Topkap? was lacking in contemporary style, luxury, and comfort, as compared to the palaces of the European monarchs, Abdülmecid decided to build a new modern palace near the site of the former Be?ikta? Sahil Palace, which was demolished. Hac? Said A?a was responsible for the construction works, while the project was realized by architects Garabet Balyan, his son Nigo?ayos Balyan and Evanis Kalfa (members of the Armenian Balyan family of Ottoman court architects).The construction cost five million Ottoman gold lira, or 35 tons of gold, the equivalent of about $1.5 billion in today's value.

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