Gülhane Park

Gülhane Park in central Istanbul, on Sarayburnu Point, was once the outer garden of Topkapı Palace and accessible only to the sultan and his entourage. Its Persian name means “House of Roses.” In 1839, the Gülhane Edict proclaiming equality among subjects of the Ottoman Empire was announced here. The park opened to the public in 1912 with recreation areas, cafés and playgrounds, and in 1926 the world’s first monument to Atatürk was erected here. Today, visitors can see the 18-metre Column of the Goths, Istanbul’s oldest surviving monument, the palace’s Procession Kiosk and the Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam, with models of inventions from the 8th to the 16th centuries. Every April, Gülhane becomes a spectacular flower garden, with around one million tulips blooming during the Istanbul Tulip Festival.

Legend says that while waiting for his beloved in Gülhane Park, Nâzım Hikmet approached a walnut tree and, after noticing the police, composed a poem in the voice of the tree: “I am a walnut tree in Gülhane Park, old, branching and spreading — but neither the police nor you are aware of me.” The Turkish singer Cem Karaca later set these lines to music.