Çifte Palace

The Double Palaces or Cemile Sultan Palace and Münire Sultan Palace are seaside palaces located in the Fındıklı neighborhood of Beyoğlu district in Istanbul. They are also called the “Salıpazarı Palaces”.

These palaces, built between 1856 and 1859 for Sultan Abdülmecit’s daughters Cemile Sultan and Münire Sultan, were designed by Garabet Amira Balyan. The buildings are currently used by Mimar Sinan University.

Cemile Sultan Palace

Among the Double Palaces, it is the Cemile Sultan Palace that is close to the Molla Çelebi Mosque. The palace’s construction was completed six months after the wedding of Cemile Sultan, who was married to Mahmut Celaleddin Pasha. Until the construction was finished, Cemile Sultan lived with her husband at the Egyptian Ibrahim Pasha Villa in Emirgan, and from April 1859 she resided in this palace. In the final period of her life, on doctors’ advice, she left this palace and first lived in Göztepe, then in Erenköy.

After Cemile Sultan, Nazime Sultan, a daughter of Abdülaziz, and her husband Derviş Paşazade Ahmet Pasha lived in this palace for a while.

Following the destruction of the Çırağan Palace, which served as the Meclis-i Mebûsan building, in the 1910 fire, the Cemile Sultan Palace was purchased from the heirs of Nazime Sultan to be used as the Meclis-i Mebusan and Meclis-i Ayan; it functioned as a parliamentary building from 1913 to 1920 and witnessed the last parliamentary sessions during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

After the proclamation of the Republic, some Independence Court cases were heard in this building. The trial of the famous journalists of the period Hüseyin Cahit (Yalçın), İkdam journalist Ahmet Cevdet (Oran), and Velid Ebüzziya, who was tried for treason against the homeland, took place in this building from 15 to 31 December 1923.

From 1926 the Academy of Fine Arts moved to the Cemile Sultan Palace, but the palace was ruined by a fire that broke out in 1948. Rebuilt according to the project prepared by Sedat Hakkı Eldem and Mehmet Ali Handan, the palace began to be used as part of the Academy of Fine Arts from 1953.

The hall of the building, which was formerly used as the Ottoman Parliament Meclis-i Mebusan Hall and the Independence Court Hall, is today used as a Conference Hall.

Munire Sultan Palace

It was assigned to Munire Sultan, one of the Twin Palaces, in the direction of Tophane. After the death of Munire Sultan, who was only 18 years old in 1882, the palace was first assigned to Saliha Sultan, daughter of Abdülaziz (1862‑1941), and then to Adile Sultan, sister of Abdülmecit (some sources state that it first passed to Adile Sultan and then to Saliha Sultan). Also called “Adile Sultan Palace”, after Adile Sultan’s death in 1899 the palace passed to Ahmet Zülküf Pasha, son‑in‑law of Abdülaziz.

After the establishment of the Republic of Turkey the building was used as the headquarters of the III Corps Command, and later served as the Faculty of Literature of Istanbul University and Atatürk Girls’ High School.

The building was transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1969. Rebuilt with Sedat Hakkı Eldem’s project, it opened for education on 21 November 1975.