Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, Turkey was the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 until 1923. It was built between 1843 and 1856 at a cost of five million gold coins, with fourteen tons of gold used to gild the ceilings. The palace housed six Sultans and featured the world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, weighing 4.5 tons with 750 lights, a gift from Queen Victoria.