European side · Beyoğlu
Aynalıkavak Pavilion
The last building of the Tersane Palace on the Golden Horn, and a museum of Turkish music.
Photographs of this palace are coming soon.
History
The shore at Hasköy was a Byzantine imperial pleasure ground and, after the conquest, the Tersane (Shipyard) garden. The first known building in it was a pavilion the grand admiral Halil Pasha built for Ahmed I at the end of 1613, and the circumcision feast of Ahmed III’s sons was held there.
Around it grew the Tersane Palace, one of the four great Ottoman palaces of the city. As the shipyard expanded the palace disappeared, until by 1802–1803 only this pavilion remained.
It took its present form under Selim III and was reworked under Abdülmecid. It passed to the National Palaces in 1975 and opened as a museum palace in 1984. Its plan — rooms around a double reception hall on a sloping site, one storey to the land and two to the water — is eighteenth-century court architecture.
What to see
The Audience Chamber
A room under a segmented dome with Selim III’s gilded tughra, and a 54-couplet poem praising the pavilion above the windows.
The Privy Room
The room where Selim III, a composer himself, is thought to have written music, framed by a poem by Şeyh Galib in his honour.
The music museum
The building houses the Aynalıkavak Music Museum, and the ticket is sold under that name.
Before you go
- The ticket may be listed as “Aynalıkavak Music Museum” at the gate and “Aynalıkavak Pavilion” online — it is the same visit.
- A garden-only ticket is sold.
Questions
Which day is Aynalıkavak closed?
Monday.