Hereke Imperial Factory and Kaiser Wilhelm Pavilion

Hereke sits on the north shore of the Gulf of İzmit. The factory here was founded in 1843 and began production in 1845 as the Hereke Imperial Factory, weaving upholstery and curtain fabric for the palaces then being built. Jacquard looms and designers were brought from France for it. Under Abdülhamid II carpet weaving was added, which is where the Hereke carpet name comes from.

In the Republican period the factory ran under Sümerbank, and in 1995 it was transferred to the National Palaces. It still produces today, as a museum-factory: National Palaces researchers work with it to recover original Hereke patterns, and the fabrics are rewoven so that palace interiors can be restored with them.

The National Palaces page for Hereke says it plainly: the timber pavilion next to the factory is open to visitors as a museum-pavilion, and the factory itself is closed. The ticket listed on the same page is for the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum-Pavilion.

That changes how the visit has to be built. Looms, patterns and the palace connection are the reason a group comes to Hereke, and none of them can be shown inside. Tell that part on the waterfront before you go in, and use the pavilion for its own story: a building made for the same court the factory wove for.

The pavilion was prepared at Yıldız Palace as a prefabricated building for the visit of the German Emperor Wilhelm II. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's description adds that it was built in three weeks at Yıldız, brought by sea in pieces and assembled on site in a day, using a boat-building technique without metal nails. Its halls open towards both the sea and the land.

It is a single pavilion, not a palace. Plan it as one block of the visit, not as a route through it.

Hereke's best work went into the palaces, pavilions and kiosks that served as a showcase for Ottoman industry, and through diplomatic gifts into European courts. There was also a Hereke weaving workshop inside Dolmabahçe Palace, working as part of the factory.

For a group that will see Dolmabahçe or Ankara Palas, where Hereke fabrics are on display, this is the place to plant the name. The other historic factory still run by the National Palaces is the Yıldız Porcelain Factory in Istanbul.

The Hereke factory is on the list of visitable National Palaces sites, so the Administration's visiting rules apply here as they do at Topkapı and Dolmabahçe. Once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people, a headset system is mandatory, and guides may not narrate loudly indoors without one. Visitors who do not follow the rules can be asked to leave by the staff.

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 site that it is accepted before the day. The article texts and every site the rule covers are on our Topkapı headset rule page.