A yalı (, from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''yialí'' (mod. ''yialós''), literally "seashore, beach") is a house or mansion built right on the waterside (almost exclusively seaside, particularly on the

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

) and usually built with an architectural concept that takes into account the characteristics of the coastal location. A family who owned a waterside residence would spend some time in this usually secondary residence located at the sea shore, as opposed to the '' konak'' ("mansion", aside from the term's use to refer to buildings with administrative functions) or the '' köşk'' ("pavilion", often serving a determined practical purpose, such as hunting, or implying a temporary nature). Thus, going to the "yalı" acquired the sense of both going to the seaside and to the house situated there. In its contemporary sense, the term "yalı" is used primarily to denote those 620 waterside residences constructed during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and sprinkled along the Bosphorus in

. As such, they are one of the area's landmarks. Finely worked wood was the predominant construction material chosen for yalıs, as it was for the large majority of traditional Turkish houses. Successive restorations often caused the wooden parts of the overall structure to be gradually reduced, but wood nevertheless remains the prominent and identifying material of historic yalıs. It is not uncommon for the most recently restored mansions to employ wood principally for external decoration purposes. The oldest surviving yalı is the one built by the

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha (, " Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha the Nephew"; in ) (1644–1702) of the Köprülü family, was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Mustafa II from September 1697 until September 1702.Shaw, Stanford J. ...

(of the highly influent

Köprülü family Köprülü may refer to: People * Köprülü family (Kypriljotet), an Ottoman noble family of Albanian origin ** Köprülü era (1656–1703), the period in which the Ottoman Empire's politics were set by the Grand Viziers, mainly the Köprülü fa ...

) in 1699 at the Kanlıca neighbourhood (within

Beykoz Beykoz () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 310 km2, and its population is 247,875 (2022). It lies at the northern end of the Bosphorus on the Anatolian side. The name i ...

district), on the

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

tic shores of the Bosphorus. From this yalı, the hall of audience (') and its immediate annexes have survived. On the opposite

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an shores, the oldest to remain is the "Şerifler Yalısı" in the Emirgan neighbourhood (within

Sarıyer Sarıyer () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 177 km2 and its population is 350,454 (2022). It is on the northeastern part of Istanbul's European side. Sarıyer al ...

district), which was built in 1780 but bears the name of a later owner. The most expensive yalı is "Erbilgin Yalısı" located in Yeniköy, Istanbul. In 2007,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

magazine listed "Erbilgin Yalısı" as the fifth most expensive house in the world with a price tag of $100 million.

Cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...

, a magazine about the arts, culture and history of Turkey, has a regular feature on the Bosphorus yalıs, their architecture and their interiors. Notable inclusions have been the Yalı of Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha, the Yalı of Ethem Pertev, the Yalı of Saffet Pasha, and the Yalı of Zeki Pasha.

Image gallery

File:Istanbul - Yeniköy.JPG, Yeniköy, on the

. File:Istanbul img 4941.jpg, Ottoman era waterfront houses (''yalı'') on the Bosphorus. File:36, Bosforo-ko yali gehiago ferrytik.jpg, Ottoman era waterfront houses (''yalı'') on the Bosphorus. File:Yalı in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, Turkey 001.jpg, Ottoman era waterfront houses (''yalı'') on the

. File:Istanbul Bosphorus 04 (7697805260).jpg, Ottoman era waterfront houses (''yalı'') on the

. File:قصر نور و مهند.JPG, Ottoman era waterfront house (''yalı'') on the

. File:Elbiseci Ahmet Bey Yalısı and Esre Umur Yalısı in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Elbiseci Ahmet Bey Yalısı'' and ''Esra Umur Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Elbiseci Ahmet Bey Yalısı and Esre-Esra Umur Yalısı.jpg, ''Esra Umur Yalısı'' and ''Necati Bey Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Haci Ahmet Bey Yali on Bosphorus, Kanlica, Turkey.JPG, ''Hacı Ahmet Bey Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Sadrazam Kadri Pasha Yalısı in Kanlıca, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Sadrazam Kadri Paşa Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Yağcı Hacı Şefik Bey Yalısı on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Yağcı Hacı Şefik Bey Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Zarif Mustafa Paşa Yalısı in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, Turkey 002.jpg, ''Zarif Mustafa Paşa Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Zarif Mustafa Paşa Yalısı in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Zarif Mustafa Paşa Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the

. File:Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi Yalısı on the Bosphorus, Turkey001.jpg, ''Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, before being damaged in 2018 File:Saffet Paşa Yalısı in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus, Turkey 001.JPG, ''Saffet Paşa Yalısı'' in Kanlıca on the Bosphorus. File:Ahmet Rasim Paşa Yalısı (A'ija Hotel) on the Bosphorus, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Yalı'' of Ahmet Rasim Pasha in Kanlıca on the

. Kandilli_Pier.jpg, Kandilli, on the

. File:Kanlica.JPG, Kanlıca, on the

. File:Âli Pasa Yalısı (Hidiva Sarayı) in Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey 001.jpg, ''Yalı'' of Âli Pasha (currently the Egyptian Consulate) in Bebek on the

. File:Ostrorog.jpg, ''Yalı'' of Count Ostrorog on the

. File:İstanbul - Kıbrıslı Yalısı 0994.JPG, ''Yalı'' of Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha in Kandilli on the

. File:Edibefendi.jpg, ''Edib Efendi Yalısı'' in Kandilli on the

. File:Marko Paşa Köşkü, İstanbul, Turkey.jpg, A ''yalı'' in Anadolu Kavağı on the

. DikranyanEfendiYalisi.jpg, Yalı on the European side File:Arnavutköy quarter of Istanbul on the Bosphorus, Turkey 002.jpg, Arnavutköy, on the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yali Ottoman architecture Turkish words and phrases Buildings and structures in Istanbul

Image gallery

See also

References