Dolmabahçe Selamlik

Lonely Planet review

The tour starts by passing through opulent salons and halls to a room with glass cabinets displaying gaudy crystal, gold and silver tea sets. After visiting the palace mosque and ablutions room, things really start to get extravagant at the staircase, with a French crystal balustrade made by Baccarat.

Here the Bohemian chandelier weighs close to 1000kg. The hallway at the top of the stairs has two Russian bearskins, a 2000kg chandelier and candelabras standing about 3m tall. Off this is a reception hall featuring ornate gilt ceiling and walls. These and the enormous carpet from Iran must have impressed the official visitors who came here to be received by the sultan. If your eyes are popping out of your head, you haven't seen anything yet; the tour continues past exquisite parquetry floors, Sèvres vases and Czechoslovakian meringue-like tiled fireplaces, through an exquisite hamam and past more monster candelabras. But even these extravagances are a mere prelude to the magnificent Imperial Ceremonial Hall, or Throne Room. Used in 1877 for the first meeting of the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies, this lavishly painted hall comes complete with a chandelier made of Irish glass that weighs over 4000kg - the tour guides here maintain that it is the largest in the world. There are grated windows, from which the resident women could watch the goings-on, and gilt on every available surface. The hall was designed to hold 2500 dignitaries and other guests.