Landmark Istanbul hotel bids to revive glorious past

“It is the first renovation on such a scale in the history of the Pera Palace. Anything you can think of — every pipe, every cable — has been changed,” hotel manager Pinar Kartal Timer told AFP.

“Our objective was to preserve the nostalgia of Pera Palace while incorporating the technology of the 21st century,” she said. The renovation cost 23 million euros (US$29.3 million).

But on the ground floor, which is listed as a historical monument, all original pieces were left untouched, meticulously restored by a team of academic experts.

Once the heart of Istanbul's social life — in the 1920s, people came to dance the foxtrot, drink champagne or attend Turkey's first fashion shows — the Pera Palace aims to regain its place on the social map of a city now teeming with posh hotels and night clubs.

“We would like to revive the traditions,” said Kartal Timer.

Next month the hotel plans to stage a “Republic Ball,” an event dating back to the establishment of modern Turkey in 1923.

The hotel's re-opening Wednesday coincided with the arrival of an old friend, the Orient Express, which today makes a single annual run from Paris to Istanbul.

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