A visit to Eastern Turkey is incomplete without a trip to the slightly surreal Ishak Pasha Sarayi, Turkey's landmark equivalent to Germany's world-renown Schloss Neuschwanstein. Built in 1685 by a Kurdish feudal lord by the name of Colak Abdi Pasha, the whole complex was completed in 1784 by his grandson, Ishak Pasha, hence the name of the palace.
The Palace is a fine example of 18th century Ottoman architecture. The walls, doors and the courtyards of the complex are full of beautiful stone carvings and delicate decorations. Located on top of a hill about 5km outside of Dogubeyazit, the mighty palace looks like something out of the Arabian Nights. Some travellers consider it Turkey's answer to Bavaria's Schloss Neuschwanstein, because both are built in a fantasy-like fairy tale style amid dramatic views on top of a hill.
Beautiful stone carvings can be found all over the palace.
The palace has a big reception hall/dining hall area, and several rooms which serve as the Harem.
It is actually quite easy to get to Ishak Pasha Palace on your own. Regular mini-bus service runs every 30 minutes from Dogubeyzait's town centre to the front entrance of the Palace. En route one gets a wonderful view of the mighty Mount Ararat. Although it is very commonplace to see posters of the Ishak Pasha Palace with Mount Ararat in the background, in reality it is impossible to see Mount Ararat from the Palace itself. So much for Turkish artistic imagination....
The views of the modern town of Dogubeyazit and the surrounding landscape from the Ishak Pasha Palace, but no Mount Ararat.
The view of the mosque on the other side of the Palace.
The snow-capped mountain in the background in the photo above is the legendary Mount Ararat. Its peak is only visible once the mini-bus has come down to the other side of the hill on which the Ishak Pasha Palace perches.
p.s. At the moment, the partially ruined palace is undergoing extensive restoration, but for unknown reasons, some idiots who have little idea about aesthetics or heritage conservations have decided to provide a modern glass top ceiling to the main complex in order to protect the interior from the elements. This has to be the most incompatible architecture design I have ever seen. I sincerely hope the glass ceiling is just a temporary feature, not a permanent addition to this historical complex. After all, this is amongst the most important Ottoman palaces, not some modern museum in Paris or New York, unless the Turks are trying to emulate the glass pyramid thing in front of the Louvre, but even then they should at least try to do it in a less explicit manner!
Copyrights@2010. All photos and text by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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