Istanbul's fabled Pera Palace hotel is scheduled to reopen in September following a €23m (£19m) restoration project which began in April 2008.

Classified a 'museum hotel' by the Turkish Superior Council for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property, architectural conservation was by KA.BA Conservation of Historic Buildings and Architecture and the interior redesign and remodelling was under the control of the Metex Design Group. With construction work having commenced in 1892, the Pera Palace - designed by architect Alexander Vallaury in neo-classical, art nouveau and oriental styles - opened in 1895. It was home to numerous 'firsts', being the first structure in Turkey to have electricity and the first to have an electric lift, the latter memorably described by a British writer as "the most beautiful elevator in world made of cast iron and wood...it ascends like a lady who curtsies". Initially, the hotel's bathrooms provided the only running hot water in the city.

The hotel was also witness to many historical events, including World War I, the occupation of Istanbul, the Turkish war of independence, the founding of the Turkish Republic and World War II. A further memorable event occurred in 1934, with the publication of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, said to have been inspired by the author's stays at the hotel. Other visitors, both famous and infamous, included Mata Hari, Greta Garbo, Ernest Hemingway, Rita Hayworth, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jacqueline Kennedy, the British/Soviet double agent Kim Philby and the WW2 German agent codenamed 'Cicero'.

The original owner of the Pera Palace was Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which operated the Orient Express train service. The hotel is now managed by a Turkish conglomerate, the Besiktas Group. The hotel's restoration has seen the addition of a modern 380sq m (4,090sq ft) spa - with an indoor pool, steam bath, jacuzzi, sauna and a gym - plus new lifts to supplement the original wood and cast iron one. Dining options include the Agatha Restaurant, the Orient Bar, the Patisserie de Pera and the Kubbell Saloon and Tea Lounge.

Guest accommodation features deluxe Pera view rooms; deluxe Golden Horn view rooms; Grand Pera studios, one of which - room number 411 - is named the Agatha Christie Room and offers a wide collection of the author's novels in several different languages; and six corner rooms named for the Swedish actress, Greta Garbo. Elsewhere, five special suites are named after writer Ernest Hemingway; a number after French writer Pierre Loti; one each after the second and third presidents of the Republic of Turkey, Ismet Inonu and Celal Bayar respectively; and a further two named for King Edward VIII of Britain and Franz Joseph, emperor of Austria-Hungary.

Room 101 will not be available - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic and the first President of Turkey, was a guest at the hotel several times and the room where he stayed is being kept as a museum with the original furniture and memorabilia.