The Edirne Palace — Saray-ı Cedid-i Amire, the new imperial palace — stood on the bank of the Tunca at Sarayiçi in the Yeni İmaret quarter, and covered some 1,200 dönüms, around 120 hectares. It mattered in Ottoman government both for where it was and for what it was used for. Very little of it survives: earthquake, fire, occupation and war took the rest, and only a handful of buildings reached our time.
The site passed to the Directorate of National Palaces in October 2022, and a five-year plan is being worked through. Buildings on the grounds that had been allocated to other institutions were cleared, later additions without historical value were recorded and removed, and the surviving structures and ruins were documented and photographed, with measured drawings and photogrammetric records made and a site plan drawn up.
Restoration began with the Cihannüma Kasrı, whose project had been approved by the conservation boards in 2017. The building was stripped of later mortar, and its original elements were shored up and stacked under numbered labels for protection. Archaeological excavation continues on the parts that did not survive — the foundations of pavilions, baths and walls — with work focused on the Sur-i Sultani walls, the Akağalar barracks and the Kum Kasrı.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Edirne as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 2.8 °C in January to 24.8 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in December (71 mm) and lightest in August (23 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 09:00 - 19:00
