Pera Palace the Hotel that is Full
Pera Palace…
The hotel that is full of mysteries, stories, and memories.
If you are a mystery hunter, this hotel is the perfect match for you!
Even though it’s in the heart of the city, you step into a whole different century.
Pera Palace was renovated several times, however, most of the building was kept as original from the ballroom to the rooms.
It’s not only a hotel, it’s a living museum, a book that you can’t get enough of.
Till this date, some mysteries have never been solved.
Pera Palace was the first high-standard, luxury hotel in İstanbul. It was built back in the day, at the end of the 19th century, with an order from the Ottoman Emperor when electricity was not available in most of the buildings. It was the first hotel to establish an electric lift and you may still see it in the hotel with its elegant design.
The aim of the order of the Ottoman Sultan was to host foreign guests arriving to Constantinople via the famous Orient Express.
Pera Palace opened her gates in 1895 to host the passengers of the world-famous Orient Express. The train brought world-famous guests such as Ernest Hemingway, Zsa Zsa Gabor, King VIII. Edward, Queen II. Elizabeth, Austro-Hungarian Emperar Franz Joseph, Shah Reza Pahlavi, President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito, General Franz Von Papen, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Pierre Loti, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mata Hari, and the most memorable ones are world famous murder novel writer Agatha Christie and of course Founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Atatürk used to stay in Suite 101 frequently between December 1915 and October 1917. On the 100th anniversary of his birth, 1981, the room transformed into a museum. Even if you’re not staying at the hotel, you can visit the room and see the mysterious carpets that were given to him years before his death with symbolisms of his death date and time. Back in the day, the debate about how the owners of the carpets knew the details about his death, was printed in the newspapers of the time. You will see the elephants and birds symbolizing death, a clock that shows 09.08, November flowers, and 10 glasses on the carpet. Atatürk died on November 10th, at 09.05.
Do you think it was some sorcery, a mediumship, or a planned threat? Nobody knows who sent the carpets to this date and the mystery was never solved.
Another mystery is about Agatha Christie. She used to stay in Room 411, where she wrote her world-famous novel, “Murder on the Orient Express”. After her death, Warner Bros wanted to make a film about her life and went to a psychic, Tamara Rand, to find out about the missing 11 days of her life. Rumors say she called the author’s soul to receive information and her soul told the filmmakers that the secret is hidden in the Pera Palace Hotel and added that she witnessed Christie hiding a key under the floorboards in her room. The key was supposed to open a hidden room in the hotel and there should be a notebook about those missing days.
The key was found where the medium describes it! The medium wanted to have another session to ask Christie’s soul about the location of the notebook, but there were disagreements between the hotel management and filmmakers, and the hotel didn’t give away the key, and notebook was never found and the mystery was never solved.
To learn more about the other mysteries and details contact us.