Review: The Accidental Palace: The Making of Yıldız in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul

Book Review| June 01 2024 Review: The Accidental Palace: The Making of Yıldız in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul Deniz Türker. The Accidental Palace: The Making of Yıldız in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2023, 272 pp. , 4 maps, 25 color and 73 b/w illus. 114. 95 (cloth), ISBN 9780271093918 Paolo Girardelli Paolo Girardelli Boğaziçi University Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (2024) 83 (2): 238–240. https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 2. 238 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures Review: The Accidental Palace: The Making of Yıldız in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 1 June 2024; 83 (2): 238–240. doi: https: //doi. org/10. 1525/jsah. 2024. 83. 2. 238 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of the Society of Architectural Historians Search A dramatic transformation in the topography of late Ottoman Istanbul occurred when the center of power moved from Topkapı Palace, at the tip of the so-called historic peninsula, where rulers had been rooted for millennia, to the European shore of the Bosphorus. This movement was not sudden and did not simply happen when Sultan Abdülmecid (r. 1839–61) relocated in 1853–56 to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace, heralding a novel, de-Orientalized image of the Ottoman dynasty. In contrast to the seclusion of Topkapı—hidden behind a wall and fragmented into quarters, courtyards, and terraced gardens connecting different functions and rituals—Dolmabahçe had a monumental façade on the Bosphorus, exposed to public view. Such open visibility had in fact been tested in other imperial residences along the Bosphorus; the older Çırağan Palace, built in the 1830s by Mahmut II (r. 1808–39), was one important step in this process. A largely wooden structure set against. . . You do not currently have access to this content.