Aynalıkavak Pavilion

Aynalıkavak Pavilion is the only building left of the Tersane Palace, also called the Aynalıkavak waterfront palace, which the National Palaces Administration counts as the fourth great Ottoman palace in Istanbul. The slope from Okmeydanı down to the Golden Horn was a pleasure ground of the Byzantine emperors; after the conquest it became the Tersane Hasbahçesi, named after the Ottoman shipyard (tersane) beside it. The first known building, a pavilion for Ahmed I, was finished in late 1613.

As the shipyard grew, the palace buildings disappeared one by one, and by 1802-1803 only this pavilion was left. It took its present form under Selim III (1789-1807) and was renovated again under Abdülmecid. It passed to the National Palaces in 1975 and opened as a museum palace in 1984.

The Administration's website lists the Aynalıkavak Mûsikî Müzesi as a separate location, but it is the same visit. Its map points to the pavilion, the pavilion's own page sells the ticket under the music museum's name, and the sign at the gate reads "Aynalıkavak Kasrı & Mûsikî Müzesi". When the music museum was set up after the restoration, in 2010, it went into the pavilion's ground floor: instruments, notations and shellac records, many of them left to the National Palaces by Gevheri Osmanoğlu, a granddaughter of Sultan Abdülaziz, according to the Anadolu Ajansı report on the opening.

The pairing has a reason. Selim III, a composer and ney player, is closely tied to this pavilion, and the Administration notes that his compositions are thought to have been written in its Hasoda.

Much of what there is to say here is written on the building. In the Audience Chamber (Arz Odası), Selim III's gilded tuğra runs along the foot of the ceiling, and above the windows is a 54-couplet poem by Enderûnî Fâzıl in praise of the pavilion, in the ta'lik script of the calligrapher Yesârîzâde. In the Hasoda, a 36-couplet poem by Şeyh Galib praising Selim III runs above the windows in the same hand.

These are details that have to be pointed at, and a whole group cannot stand where the pointing works. Tell the story of the poems and the composer-sultan in the garden first, so that inside you only need to say where to look.

Aynalıkavak Pavilion is run by the National Palaces Administration, and its visiting rules make a headset system mandatory once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people (article 8). Guides may not narrate loudly indoors without one (article 7), and staff can remove a visitor who ignores the rules from the site. This is a written rule, not a courtesy.

The rules do not name a type of system. If you plan to use anything other than the familiar rented sets, a phone-based system like ours included, confirm with the palace administration that it is accepted before the day. The article texts, every site the rule covers and the ways to meet it are on our Topkapı headset rule page.

The pavilion sits on a slope: one storey on the land side, two on the water side. Its plan is the traditional one of an eighteenth-century Ottoman palace, with three halls (sofa) around a double reception room. On one side are the Divanhane, where the sultan received important guests, and three rooms; on the other, the entrance hall and two rooms.

That is a small building for a large group. Plan to take the rooms in turns, with half the group in the garden while the other half is inside, rather than moving everyone through at once.

The visiting rules list a combined ticket for Dolmabahçe Palace together with the European-side pavilions and museum: Aynalıkavak, the Maslak Pavilions, the Ihlamur Pavilions and the Palace Collections Museum (article 9). Combined tickets are valid for 30 days, and each venue can be entered once in that time. The MüzeKart, the card Turkish citizens use, is valid here: the rules accept it across the National Palaces (article 12), and Aynalıkavak is not on the Administration's list of exceptions.

Aynalıkavak is on the Golden Horn, about 4 km from Dolmabahçe as the crow flies. Objects from the pavilion are among those shown at the Palace Collections Museum. The headset rule is the same one that applies at Topkapı Palace.