İshak Pasha Palace

İshak Pasha Palace is more than a palace; it is a complex. It stands on a hill on the slope of a mountain about five kilometres east of Doğubeyazıt in Ağrı province, and after Topkapı Palace in Istanbul it is often called the most famous of the palaces built in the later Ottoman centuries. It is regarded as the last great monument of the Tulip Era.

According to the inscription over the door of the harem section, it was built in 1199 in the Islamic calendar, which is 1784. Building began in 1685 under İshak Pasha II of the Çıldıroğulları family and Çolak Abdi Pasha, and the palace took its final form in 1784. It fuses Ottoman, Persian and Seljuk architectural styles, and it is both a leading example of 18th-century Ottoman architecture and important for its art history.

The complex covers an area of roughly 115 by 50 metres and is built of cut stone. The portal on the east façade, with reliefs and ornament, reflects the character of Seljuk art.

Its dramatic position over the plain is a large part of its appeal.