Aynalıkavak Kasrı Baths

Perched on the shores of the Golden Horn in Hasköy, the Aynalıkavak Pavilion is the last surviving trace of a once-vast Ottoman imperial palace, now preserved as a museum. The earliest structure on the site dates to 1613, commissioned by Grand Admiral Halil Pasha for Sultan Ahmed I, before the complex was greatly expanded under Ahmed III in the 18th century, becoming a favored setting for the famed tulip festivals.

Among the palace's outbuildings stood a hammam reserved for the women of the imperial household, whose wall tiles, vaulted ceilings and domed decoration were recorded in historical drawings. The site's name, meaning "the palace of the mirrored poplars," recalls the mirrors gifted by the Venetians after their 1715 naval defeat. Almost entirely demolished in the early 19th century, the surviving pavilion passed to the National Palaces administration in 1975 and opened to the public as a museum in 1984.