American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER) 2018 American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER) e-ISSN: 2320-0847 p-ISSN : 2320-0936 Volume-7, Issue-10, pp-65-73 www.ajer.org Research Paper Open Access www.ajer.org Page 65 Landscape Desgin Principles of Yildiz Palace Gardens, Istanbul Asst. Prof. Dr. Parisa GÖKER BilecikSeyhEdebali University, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Departmnet of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, Bilecik Corresponding Author:Parisa GÖKER ABSTRACT:Yıldız Palace is the last palace area of Ottoman Empire, covering an area of 500.000 m 2 , in Beşiktaş over a hill aoveBosphorus, between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy. It’s a palace complex, comprising of mansions, governance structures and parks, which covers the whole hillside starting from the beach between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy, and going up to Beşiktaş Hill. In this study, a literature research and field -survey were carried out as oriented at detecting the historical, natural and cultural values owned by Yıldız Palace Gardens. Within this scope, historical photos, maps, aerial photos, gravures, including the data obtained from written documents that are related to the research object, were evaluated via an analysis on the structural elements and plantation material in the palace gardens. In line with the obtained findings, the western influences on Turkish garden culture were set forth based on an evaluation over the structural and plantation material usage, garden landscape approach and design principles for Yıldız Palace Gardens. KEY WORDS:Yıldız Palace Gardens, Ottoman Era, 19. Century Palace Gardens, Turkish Garden culture --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission:02-10-2018 Date of acceptance: 13-10-2018 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION Historical palace gardens, in addition to being formations reflecting cultural characteristics of the communities they belong to, they also reflect life styles of the people who used these locations and perception of the era and construction techniques. Garden culture, shaped according to human-nature relationships, has changed and developed due to geographic, historical, socio-economical, cultural and living conditions of each era. Palaces, functioned as a living location of state administration and sultans, have turned out to be monuments reflecting the art and architectural understanding of a civilization with distinctive structures. Specifically, Ottoman palaces formed of various buildings were influenced both from areas where western influences were observed prominently environmental changes effects of time. History of Yıldız Palace Gardens: It is known that the history of the area, where Yıldız Palace Gardens are located, goes back to the Byzantine Period, and that it was a wide forestry area during this period. Preserving its forestry characteristic in the Ottoman Period, Yıldız area was used as the recreation area for sultans, starting with Sulyman The Magnificent (1520-1566). The area preserved this characteristic for a long tame after the Conquest of İstanbul, and known under the name of Kazancıoğlu Garden during this era (AliasghariKhabbazi, 2016). Fig. 1. Location of YıldızPalace Gardens