Çirağan Palace

Not satisfied with the architectural exertions of his predecessor at Dolmabahçe, Sultan Abdül Aziz (r 1861–76) built his own grand residence at Çırağan, on the Bosphorus shore only 1.5km away from Dolmabahçe. The architect was Nikoğos Balyan, one of the designers of Dolmabahçe, and here he created an interesting building melding European neoclassical with Ottoman and Moorish styles. Abdül Aziz’s extravagance may have been one of the reasons why he was deposed in 1876, to be replaced by his mentally unstable and alcoholic nephew, Murat. Abdül Aziz later died in Çırağan under mysterious circumstances, probably suicide. Murat was in turn swiftly deposed by Abdül Hamit II, who kept his predecessor and brother a virtual prisoner in Çırağan. Murat died in the palace in 1904. In 1909 it became the seat of the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies and Senate, but in 1910 it was badly damaged by fire under suspicious circumstances. The palace is now part of the Çırağan Palace Kempinski İstanbul.