Where clocks have frozen in remembrance of Ataturk (IANS Travel)

ISTANBUL - That was the bed he spent his last moments on, the glass cabinet full of medicine bottles stands just as it did then, and the clocks have been frozen in time - 9.05 a.m. - the time when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first president, breathed his last at the grand Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

Ataturk, who fashioned the Turkish Republic and gave it its modern outlook, died of cancer Nov 10, 1938, in one of the rooms of the Dolmabahce Palace, which was built by the Ottoman rulers in the 19th century and is a prime example of their lavish lifestyle. He was 57.

The double bed that Ataturk died in is covered with the Turkish flag, red coloured with the sickle moon and stars. The room is bare, save for the bed and a sofa and a mirror on the wall. There is pin drop silence as tourists stand in queue, peep reverentially into the room and leave, as a strict-looking but polite guard keeps watch.

No one is allowed to touch anything, not even brush against the doors; a maroon carpet marks the path that tourists are to take while looking at the marvels of the Dolmabahce Palace, built by the Ottoman Empire\’s 31st Sultan, Abdülmejid I between 1843 and 1856.

And no photographs please, the guards tell us firmly.

A little beyond the room where Ataturk died is a large ornate hall, originally a room where the sultans held meetings with special guests, but was used by Ataturk to hold his intense meetings with his chosen team as they deliberated on the future of Turkey. Ataturk moved into the Dolmabahce Palace in 1927 and stayed there till his death. His last days were spent in ill health.

Near his bedroom is another small room with a single narrow bed, a glass cabinet full of bottles and little cardboard boxes that contained his medicines, and a wheelchair. \”Kemal Ataurk died of cancer,\” says our tour guide Derya Kutukcu.

\”Ataturk hardly slept or ate anything. He would sleep just 2-3 hours a day, and would only be working all the time. During his last days when he was too ill to walk he would be taken around in the wheelchair, but he did not want people to see him in that incapacitated state,\” Derya said.

The rest of Dolmabahce Palace is a hallmark of the opulence of the Ottoman sultans. The ceilings of the 285-roomed palace are decorated with ornate paintings done with gold. There are 44 large halls, 68 toilets and six large hammams, including a separate one for the harem section where the women folk stayed.

Dolmabahce Palace is the first palace of the Ottoman rulers built in the European style and reflects the influences from Europe on their lifestyle, says our tour guide. It was built by a Turkish and an Armenian architect. The halls have huge chandeliers, from England, and one of the staircases leading to the upper floor has banisters of crystal.

The tall pillars around the staircase look as if they are made of polished granite. \”No, they are not of granite, just painted to look like that,\” Derya tells us astonished tourists. A closer look, a real close one, and we can see they are indeed painted. The neat painting job was done by master artists in the 19th century.

Just at the top of the staircase is a wrought iron carving of elephants sitting around palm trees. You guessed it right! \”It is a gift from India,\” a smiling Derya tells us, but she was unable to inform us about who gifted it to the Ottoman sultans and when.

Abdulmejid was a patron of the arts and himself a master painter and craftsperson. The library contains book shelves, a large table and chairs all crafted by him. Paintings made by him, including of his wife, adorn the walls of the palace.

When the sultans entertained guests in the main hall, the women could get a peek into the proceedings from two special grill windows at the far end from their harem quarters.

Fourteen tonnes of gold in the form of gold leaf were used to gild the ceilings of the 45,000 sq m palace, according to information gleaned from the net.

Turkey became a republic Oct 29, 1923, ending more than 600 years of rule by the Ottoman sultans.

(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at