İzmit Hunting Lodge Palace Museum

Kasr-ı Hümayun, known as the Hunting Lodge, stands in the middle of İzmit beside the clock tower. A first lodge was built under Murad IV, but fire and earthquake destroyed it. The building you see today dates from the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861 to 1876), designed by Amira Karabet Balyan of the famous Balyan family of architects. Its claim to fame is simple: it is the only Ottoman palace built outside Istanbul.

It is a two-storey building in a Western baroque and neoclassical mix, with a marble façade. The ceilings were painted by a French artist named Sason and carry the imperial coat of arms, the sultan's monogram, groupings of flags, spears, axes and swords, and flower and fruit motifs. Deer and lion figures decorate the ceiling of the ground-floor hall.

Until 1967 the palace housed provincial offices, after which it became İzmit's museum. The 1999 earthquake damaged it badly. Restoration in 2004 and 2005 led to its opening as a palace museum in 2007. Inside, Atatürk's Room displays personal belongings brought from the presidential yacht Savarona.