Küçüksü Kasra Palace (Palace of Little Water), or, alternatively, Göksu Kasra (Palace of Heavenly Water) takes its name from the name of the rivulets flowing here and Göksu and Küçüksu. The rivulets are very picturesque in themselves. Küçüksu adorns the Asian bank of the Bosphorus at Beykoz.
Küçüksu Kasra is a two-storey castle located on the bank of the Göksu Creek, on the Anatolian part of the city, between the Anadolu Hisary fortress and the Sultan Mehmed Bridge. The palace was designed and built for Sultan Abdulmejid I by the Armenian-Turkish architects Grikor Amir Balyan and his son Nikoghos Balyan (1856-1857). The hand of the famous architect owns the famous Dolmabahce Palace. But if Dolmabahçe is a resplendent beauty, favoured by tourists from all over the world and resting on the laurels of deserved fame, then Küçüksu Kasrı can be called its younger brother. You can't say that it's a - a miniature copy of Dolmabahçe, but the common features are very noticeable - the same architectural techniques, small touches.
Divittar Emin Mehmet Pasha - Grand Vizier in 1752 built in honour of Sultan Mahmud I (1730-54) here a wooden mansion, which eventually became obsolete and Küçüksu Kasra Castle was demolished, and the present Küçüksu Kasra Castle building was built of stone in its place.
The castle is in baroque and rococo style and was the summer residence of the sultan. It is a striking monument of the so-called Ottoman Baroque. It's a style practised practised by the Armenian architects Balyans. The design of the castle successfully combines traditional Turkish motifs mixed with European curiosities. Invited masters who built the Vienna Opera House were responsible for the decoration of the rooms.
Above the semi-basement floor were built 2 more floors, the facade of the palace, which have a splendid exterior decoration. The basement floor was allocated for storage rooms, kitchen, utility rooms and servants' quarters, while the upper floors contained the main salon and four corner rooms. This building was used for recreation or hunting parties only during daylight hours, so no bedrooms were provided.
>
Generally, the first impression tourists get of Küçüksu Kasra Castle, when they enter is the cascade of stairs that run upwards right from the entrance to the right and left and merges into a narrow ribbon overhead. One of these staircases leads up to the salon of the first floor is one of these baroque staircases. On the first floor any tourist will notice the extraordinary beauty of the table, a rarity from the time of the princeship of the future Sultan Abdülhamit II. The table is skilfully carved from wood without a single nail by the sultan's hand. The Iranian carpet that adorns this salon has a uniquely beautiful figurative pattern of different animals. The precious things that fill the Küçüksu Kasra Palace. Its decoration and interior are in the Ottoman style of the period of the decline of Ottoman rule: chandeliers made of Czech glass, marble from Italy, Turkish and Persian carpets, paintings on the walls - originals by Aivazovsky, huge mirrors, designed to reflect and amplify the light of massive heavy chandeliers, marvellous gold-painted ceilings.
The palace is given a special flavour by the carvings that decorate the structure from the outside. The fountain located in the garden inside the palace, as well as the staircases, are in the style of the baroque style. It was built in 1803 in honour of his mother Valide Mihrishah by Sultan Selim III. This fountain and pool, located in the garden, make up with the castle of Küçüksu Kasra Castle.
In 1944, the palace was converted into a museum, which still attracts visitors and tourists today with its superb carvings, carpets, crystal chandeliers and fireplaces.
