Dolmabahçe Palace

Dolmabahçe Palace 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. The construction cost five million Ottoman gold lira, or 35 tonnes of gold, the equivalent of $1.5 billion in today’s values. Dolmabahçe is the largest palace in Turkey. It has an area of 45,000 m2 (11.1 acres), and contains 285 rooms, 46 halls, 6 baths (hamam) and 68 toilets. The Dolmabahçe palace is extensively decorated with gold and crystal. Fourteen tonnes of gold were used to gild the ceilings.