The Dulber Palace is striking and captivates attention at first sight.
The name itself sounds a mystery to the European ear. The architect’s idea to make the building stand out from the surrounding area is perfectly realized.
The palace was built in 1895-1897 for Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich Romanov according to the project of Yalta architect N.P.Krasnov.
The snow-white building with silver domes, crenellated walls, arched windows, blue ornamentation, colored mosaics seems to be a beautiful vision from the fairy tales of the East. And the name of the palace is translated from Arabic as «beautiful», «magnificent». It is built in a romantic, Moorish style.
There are more than 100 rooms and spaces in the palace. By arranging various architectural details and decorations on the facades of the building, its oblong shape gained plasticity and completeness, and the facades themselves gained unique individuality. A lot of attention was paid to decorative decoration: decoration of entrances, window openings, balconies, decoration of door panels. When performing finishing and decorative works, the author strictly followed the Saracen style of Egypt and Syria. This style very much impressed the prince, and he considered it poetically initial for creation of unfading and sensual beauty of architectural creations.
The stone niche preserved a medallion with a historical inscription: «1897, October. Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, Grand Duchess Melitsa Nikolaevna and their children — Grand Duchesses Marina Petrovna, Nadezhda Petrovna, Grand Duke Roman Petrovich attended the consecration of the Dulber Palace».
Above the main entrance to the palace is carved in Arabic script: «May Allah bless him who enters here». With these words «Dulber» has been welcoming its guests for more than 100 years.
Through the gates of the palace have passed thousands of vacationers sanatorium «Dulber», they are hospitably open in front of numerous tourists, for whom «Dulber» always remains one of the architectural jewels of Big Yalta.
There is a park around the palace, which is just like Dulber — exquisite and rich. This park can be considered a botanical garden — so many rare plants are cultivated on its lands. Roses and water lilies, fountains and artificial ponds — it is hard to imagine a place more pleasant for strolling. Several generations of gardeners and architects have decorated the park with small architectural forms: sculptures, pavilions, fountains, artificial ponds with goldfish and lilies in bloom.
The supporting walls and arches are covered with ivy, wisteria and climbing roses.
The pride of the park architecture of Dulber is an alley of fan palms at the main entrance of the palace. And the entrance to the palace is framed by sprawling fan palms, completing its overseas southern look. Picturesque avenues and paths for terrenekur lead directly to the sea, while secluded romantic pavilions and viewpoints attract with their enchanting scenery.
Sanatorium «Dulber» is located 12 km from Yalta. Address: Yalta, settlement Koreiz-1, Alupka highway, 19. You can get there by buses and shuttle buses, you can take a boat directly from Yalta Embankment to Miskhor.