Baltalimanı is one of the later gardens. This became a favorite place for building seaside mansions and pavilions in the nineteenth century. Mustafa Reşit Paşa had a stone mansion built by Serkis Balyan at the side of his wooden seaside mansion. When his son married a daughter of Abdülmecid, this house was bought by the treasury and given to the married couple. It was thought that this might be used by the French emperor Napoleon III and his empress, who visited Istanbul later in Abdülmecid’s reign, for which purpose extra buildings were added and the grounds redesigned. According to the will of Fatma Sultan, on her death the palace passed to her sister, Mediha Sultan, who married Damat Ferit Paşa.
Leyla Saz reminisces on Baltalimanı Palace and its grounds: We returned in the evening to our house at Kanlıca. On the quay, three pairs of oarsmen belonging to Fatma Sultanefendi were waiting for me. I changed my clothes immediately and got into the caïque, and in a few minutes we crossed to Baltalimanı Saray on the opposite shore (Harem’in içyüzü, 148–49).
The text for this entry is adapted from Nurhan Atasoy, Garden for the Sultan, 303–4.
Source: Unknown, 19th century
-Nurhan Atasoy, Seyit Ali Kahraman
Resources:
Harem’in içyüzü (Open in Zotero)
A Garden for the Sultan: Gardens and Flowers in the Ottoman Culture (Open in Zotero)
Originally published at: Atasoy, Nurhan, and Seyit Ali Kahraman “Baltalimanı Palace Gardens.” Middle East Gardens Traditions. Dumbarton Oaks, December 1, 2014. https://www.doaks.org/resources/middle-east-garden-traditions/catalogue/C98. Archived at: https://perma.cc/5UDZ-R9BM.
