Yıldız Park () is a historical,

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

district of

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 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is one of the largest public parks in Istanbul. The park is located in Yıldız quarter between the palaces of Yıldız and Çırağan.

History

Yıldız Park was once part of the imperial garden of

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace (, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire, Ottoman pavilions and villas in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the List of sultans of the Ottoman ...

. Extending down the slopes from the palace, this walled park was reserved only for palace dwellers during the reign of Sultan

Abdulhamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

. The area of Yıldız used to be a forest in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times. Starting during the reign of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

, the sultans made it their hunting grounds. In the next centuries, it remained as a grove behind the seaside palaces. The neighbourhood began to flourish in the wake of construction of the palace in the 19th century. It took its name from the first pavilion, namely ''Yıldız Kasrı'', commissioned by

Selim III Selim III (; ; was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV (). A group of a ...

in early 19th century. The of the palace's external garden were surrounded by high walls and detached from a grove during the reign of

in the 19th century. A small artificial lake, pavilions, summer houses and a porcelain factory were established in this section.

Today

At present, Yıldız Park is a beautiful garden complex set in a very large park of flowers, plants and trees, gathered from every part of the world, dating from the Ottoman era. Park grounds offer panoramic views of 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 ...

. The park is a popular picnic place especially for the weekends. Two beautiful Ottoman era

pavilions In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, namely the Çadır and Malta pavilions, are today café/restaurants where people have breakfast or lunch, or drink a cup of tea or coffee. The park is separated into two sections, the outer section is open to the public and comprises the Şale, Çadır and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

pavilions and the still-operating Yıldız porcelain factory. The vegetation of the park includes

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

bay leaves The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used as a herb in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. The flavour that a bay leaf ...

, Judas trees, silver limes and horse-chestnuts. Furthermore, the park shelters

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, yew, cedar and

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some subtropical species are evergr ...

s. Besides, the outer section has two man-made lakes.

Gallery

Image:Cadir Kiosk garden March 2008b.JPG, Çadır Pavilion within the grounds of the park File:Yildiz Palace and Park 8198.jpg,

Malta Kiosk The Malta Kiosk (), also known as the Malta Pavilion, is a historic imperial Ottoman residence located within the garden of the Yıldız Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. The two-storey pavilion was commissioned by Sultan Abdülaziz (reigned 1861&ndas ...

, now open to the public File:Yildiz Palace and Park 8162.jpg, Façade of the main building of Şale Pavilion Image:Yildiz Porcelain Factory 01.jpg, Yıldız Porcelain and Tile manufactury complex

References

* Governorate of Istanbul official website
''Yıldız Palace and Park''

External links

* Planetware.com

* YildizParki.com
''Istanbul Yıldız Parkı''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yildiz Park Parks in Istanbul

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Beşiktaş Urban public parks

History

Today

Gallery

See also

References

External links