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Turkey

The enormous Topkapı Palace complex in Istanbul was begun in 1459, and with its many additions survived almost completely intact until it was turned into a museum in 1923. It was the centre of government as well as the residence of the Ottoman Caliphs. It combined aspects of the typical Asian form of a group of pavilions set in a large walled garden (part is now Gülhane Park) with the European style of a single massive building with courtyards. Visitors passed through a series of courtyards, originally lined with hundreds of soldiers along the arcades, with only the most important or favoured reaching the Fourth Courtyard and the imperial residential quarters.

By the 19th century Topkapı was largely abandoned as a residence in favour of the new Dolmabahçe Palace and Yıldız Palace, as well as smaller Ottoman palaces in Istanbul, some summer retreats and the like. These were in essentially European architectural styles.