Ihlamur Pavilions

The Ihlamur valley lies between Beşiktaş, Yıldız and Nişantaşı. Until the early twentieth century the Fulya stream ran through it under lime and plane trees. Under Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) the first part of the valley became a sultan's private garden; higher up, Selim III and Mahmud II held archery contests, and some of the target stones that record their shots survive.

Sultan Abdülmecid replaced an earlier garden pavilion with two new ones between 1849 and 1855 and named the place Nüzhetiye. The Ceremonial Pavilion (Merasim Köşkü) was for his official use and for ceremonies; the Retinue Pavilion (Maiyet Köşkü) for his retinue and harem. They were day pavilions, places to rest rather than to live, and diplomatic guests were received here. The buildings served as a Tanzimat Museum from 1951, passed to the National Palaces in 1966 and opened as a museum-palace in 1985 with their original furnishings.

The Ceremonial Pavilion is an entrance hall with one room on either side; the Retinue Pavilion is a set of corner rooms around a central hall. The two stand about 80 m apart on OpenStreetMap. Neither takes a large group in comfortably at once.

That makes the garden the place to work. Give the story of the valley, the sultans and the two buildings outside, where nobody else is disturbed, and use the time indoors for what is in the rooms. If the group is large, plan for it to go through the rooms in turn rather than all together.

The Ihlamur Pavilions are 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 a visitor who ignores the rules can be removed. The same rules govern Topkapı and every other palace and pavilion the Administration runs.

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 Administration before the day that it is accepted.

Ihlamur makes more sense as a garden that acquired buildings than as a palace. The surviving archery target stones from the valley record the distance, the result and the date of shots the sultans made at water jars, which tells a group what the place was for long before the pavilions existed.

The Administration's page also quotes the French poet Lamartine, who was the sultan's guest here in 1846 and wrote that Ihlamur was the sultan's favourite pavilion, where he rested and read. It is a good line to read out in the garden before the group goes inside.

The visiting rules list a combined ticket for Dolmabahçe plus the European-side pavilions and museum: Aynalıkavak, the Maslak Pavilions, Ihlamur and the Palace Collections Museum (article 9). Combined tickets last 30 days, and each venue can be entered once within that time. Ihlamur is not one of the places where the MüzeKart is excluded (article 12).

Ihlamur closes on Mondays: the rules say so for palaces and pavilions (article 6), and the pavilion's own page agrees. Yıldız Palace is about 800 m to the east, up the hill.