page_title: Edirne Palace
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Edirne Palace / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Cihannüma kasrı in Edirne, gebaut von Mehmed II. nach 1451 als Teil seines Palastes. 1878 zerstört. Photo vor 1878.
context_page_description: Edirne Palace, or formerly New Imperial Palace is a former a palace of the Ottoman sultans in Edirne, mostly during the era when the city was the capital of the empire. Few of the palace buildings have survived until now, however works are underway for its reconstruction.
context_section_description: The palace was built in a hunting ground and woods covering  30–35 ha (74–86 acres) land north of the city on the west bank of the Tunca river. Construction of the palace began in 1450 during the reign of Murad II (r. 1421–1444, 1446–1451), but stopped when the sultan died. After some time, work was resumed and it was completed by Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481) in 1475. In the following years, the palace was  continuously maintained and extended with new buildings around it during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566), Ahmed I (r. 1603–1617), Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687), Ahmed II (r. 1691–1695) and Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730).
  The palace remained unused from 1718, when Ahmed III relocated his seat to Istanbul, until 1768, when Mustafa III (r. 1757–1774) returned to the city. During this half-century of vacancy, the palace fell into a state of dilapidation. The destruction was abetted by the 1752 earthquake and the 1776 fire in the city. In 1825, some parts of the palace were repaired by Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839). The palace was damaged heavily when the Russian forces occupying Edirne in 1829 used it as a military camp. Between 1868 and 1873, many buildings of the palace complex underwent restoration by the city governors of the time. Finally, the palace was destroyed to great extent when an ammunition depot close to it was intentionally blown up on the order of Edirne Governor in fear of nearing Russian forces during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. The structural elements of the ruined palace were then plundered to be used elsewhere.
  Archaeologist Mustafa Özer of Bahçeşehir University, who leads the excavation works at site, reported that they obtained some photographs of the palace complex  taken before its destruction. It is believed that Russian photographer Dmitri Ivanovich Yermakov (1846–1916), who, according to historical records, took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 as an army topographist, visited Edirne for intelligence purposes in the 1870s, and photographed the city street by street. Özer stresses the importance of the palace photos for the rebuilding and restoration works, and believes that more photos exist.
caption: Historical photograph of Cihannüma Pavilion.
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