Yildiz Palace Photography Collection

This unique collection was created during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II for 33 years, between 1876 and 1909 in the Ottoman Empire. It consists of of 922 albums and 37.178 frames of photographs from 47 countries and geographies collected in Yıldız Palace, the legal residence of Sultan Abdulhamid II. The photographs cover a wide range of areas, such as the features of the Ottoman palace architecture, members of Ottoman dynasty, city views, historical events, geographic documents, life in the Ottoman geography, natural disasters, army, fire authority, cultural issues, civil/official structures, human images from very different social segments, social life and world of crime. These photographs from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century provide the opportunity to witness the common material and moral heritage of the humanity.