Monday, July 31, 2017

HİLMİ NAKİPOGLU CAMERA MUSEUM

Bakırköy - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 40°59'38.2"N 28°52'45.8"E / 40.993951, 28.879385

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The museum was founded by Hilmi Nakipoğlu, a businessman with a passion to photography from his highschool days in the 1960's. Mr. Hilmi started collectng old, vintage cameras and old photographs in the 1970's. In 1997 he opened the museum inside the school building he had founded in Bakırköy. The Nefus Nakipoğlu Zihinsel Engelliler Okulu - Nefus Nakipoğlu School for Children with Intelectual Disability.

Businessman Hilmi Nakipoğlu's camera collection has been turned into the only museum of its kind in Turkey. The museum, on the top floor of the Nefus Nakipoglu Mentally Handicapped School in Bakırköy, includes more than 1000 cameras as old as 1896, from different manufacturers and characteristics.

Nakipoğlu said that he first took up photography as a hobby when he was a little boy, developing photos in his mother's trousseau chest. He set up a darkroom at school in his secondary and high school years, sharpening his skills with the school's cameras and equipment.

He later began developing coloured photographs in a darkroom at home. Nakipoğlu, who has been purchasing new and used cameras since his childhood, pointed out that in many European countries, there is no equal to this museum.

According to famous Turkish photographer Ara Guler, "This museum is unique." Nakipoglu stated that all of the cameras in the museum were operational and that while visiting the museum, students had the chance to learn about photography and film development. Students can even watch while black-white photographs are being bathed.

According to Nakipoglu, all the museum's cameras were bought in Turkey - in Beyazit Çınaraltı, Sahaflar, Sirkeci and especially in the antique shops of Kadıköy. He stated that the cameras were expensive, but that they were even more valuable in spiritual terms.

Nakipoğlu was a self-taught photographer as well as a camera collector who had a keen eye for rare and old cameras. He collected cameras of all shapes and sizes for over 30 years. The museum also displays a collection of photos and camera accessories. These cameras include portable and non-portable studio cameras, spy cameras, mini cameras, cameras that use Leica films, Polaroid cameras and many more.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Hilmi Nakipoğlu Camera Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : info@cameramuseum.com.tr
Phone : +90 212 543 0920
Fax : +90 212 570 0861

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved. 

ISTANBUL AVIATION MUSEUM

Yeşilköy, Bakırköy - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 40°57'47.1"N 28°49'35.5"E / 40.963090, 28.826524

Aviation Museum photo aviation_museum112.jpg

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The Aviation Museum in Yeşilköy traces the development of flight in Turkey. The Aviation Museum, originally called “the Air Museum” was first built in Izmir in 1971. However, due to lack of  interest,it was moved to its present location in Yeşilköy, Istanbul in 1979.In 1985 it reopened to the public under the name “the Aviation Museum.”

The museum has an area of 15,000 square meters in total. Of this area, 12,000 square meters are open and 3,000 square meters are covered. The Museum also features movie theater, conference room and a cafeteria.

The museum stands within the Air Command Headquarters of Istanbul and has both indoor and outdoor exhibition sections. Many planes used in Turkish Air Force history are exhibited in the open area, including wartime jets, other war and cargo planes, helicopters, jet-motor and hovercrafts, some aviation arms, pictures, emblems, medallions and belongings of Turkish air pilots, anti-aircraft artillery, missiles and radar. Many precious objects from Turkish Air Force history are displayed in the covered area.

The museum not only presents various warplanes, helicopters and weapons used by Turkish Air Force, but also civilian air transport and many samples of Turkish aeronautics history, starting from Ottoman era.

In addition to the display of emblems belonging to the Turkish Air Force, there is an aeronautical video playing for visitors at the museum’s entrance. In the Commander Busts Hall, there are some oil paintings of commanders who have left a positive mark on aviation history. Bronze busts of the several commanders, especially those in command positition, are showcased along with a short biography.

In the uniform section of the museum, collections of historical value, such as the uniforms belonging to the first aviation commanders during the Ottoman Empire are on display. Medals and the uniform worn by the first aviation martyr of the Ottoman Empire, Fethi Bey, attracts the attention of the museum’s visitors.

In the arms section, rockets, weapons used by warplanes, and many historical materials are on display for visitors who hold an interest in military aviation.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : İstanbul Aviation Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : havacilikmuzesi@hho.edu.tr
Phone : +90 212 663 2490

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URAL ATAMAN CLASSIC CAR MUSEUM

Tarabya, Sarıyer - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°07'34.2"N 29°03'09.5"E / 41.126165, 29.052629

Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum photo uralataman_museum109.jpg

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After enjoying a weekend breakfast, you may want an indoor space where you can have some fun. For classic car buffs, the Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum in the coastal neighborhood of Tarabya in Istanbul is a good choice.

The museum, which features a 2,000-square-meter exhibition area features more than 60 vehicles including motorcycles and trucks dating back mostly to the 1950s and 1960s. Opened in 2012, the museum has a lively atmosphere full of nostalgia. Aside from classic cars, visitors can see hundreds of various industrial and automotive paraphernalia, such as fuel pumps, jukeboxes and wheel covers.

Situated within a glass building, the museum is lit by neon panels that set the mood of the era. The cars on display are divided into different sections. In the first section, American cars are on display accompanied by a restaurant designed to be reminiscent of the 1950s. The upper floor houses European Cars, while other spaces in the museum host a library on automobiles, a piano and a miniature race track as well as other collectables.

Ural Ataman, the museum's founder, was influenced by the beauty of classic cars in his childhood. He used to travel in his father's 1946 Ford, which also had a big place in his childhood days. The museum is only open on Saturdays.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : info@atamanmuseum.com
Phone : +90 212 299 4539
Fax : +90 212 299 4548

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

PANAROMA 1453 HISTORY MUSEUM

Topkapı, Zeytinburnu - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°01'04.7"N 28°55'12.2"E / 41.017978, 28.920068

Panaroma 1453 History Museum photo panaroma_museum107.jpg

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Panoramic 1453 Museum creates a three dimensional depiction of the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottoman Empire on 29th May 1453. It was created with the help of eight artists and a budget of over 1 million Euros and offers a full panorama- in vertical as well as horizontal order- of this important historical battle. The domed roof is also painted to create the illusion of a sky. Visitors are asked to stand at a distance of at least 14 metres in order to optimize the 3D effect.

Traditional Ottoman military music from Janissary bands is played as well as the sound of cannon and gunfire to enhance the visual experience. The museum also houses imitation cannons and powder barrels along with a model version of the picture at the entrance. There is further information about the conquest of Istanbul along the corridor leading to the Museum. You could be a soldier in Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, an independent observer or a foreign traveler and witness again the conquest of Istanbul and the exact moment when the city was entered.

The panoramic painting was the result of eight artists working together for three years. The first year was spent in carrying out research. The artists put great effort into making the picture as realistic and accurate as possible. The work in constructing the scale model (1/10) was an important stage, and helped to determine any flaws in the design. After this, everything was taken back to the beginning and a detailed study was begun.

The artists debated which details were to be focused on. Some of the team argued that a large part of the details were to be seen from a distance of 14 meters; in the end the artists decided to give more room to details that could be seen at this distance. Thus, each time a visitor comes to the museum they can focus on different details. In addition, advanced cameras and technology will help in the perception of the details.

The museum of the conquest, which opens a door onto Istanbul’s history, is located across from the spot on the Topkapı-Edirnekapı ramparts where the siege occurred and is run by Kültür A.Ş. After the official opening, this cultural location attracted a great deal of attention from the public and has hosted state leaders. This is Topkapı, the place where the fiercest battle of the Constantinople siege took place, where the unscalable walls were overcome, where the day that the blessed soldiers had awaited occurred.

This is the door that opened onto the conquest of Constantinople. Here you will witness the conquest of Constantinople once again and experience the moment when the soldiers entered the city, almost exactly as it happened. You will witness the explosion of the cannonballs, cast by the Hungarian cannon expert Urban, and see them flung at the walls of Constantinople. The battle cry of Fatih Sultan Mehmed II’s soldiers and the sound of the marches played by the Janissary band will accompany you.

This area, which fourteen years ago was a bus terminal, is today the location of Topkapı Cultural Park. On the left you can see the Edirnekapı Walls. Straight ahead, you can see the Topkapı Walls, the point where the Ottoman soldiers entered Constantinople. Here you can witness an important moment in history, the fall of Constantinople; it was this event that gave Sultan Mehmet II his title of Fatih (the Conqueror).

During the next few minutes, you will be informed about the scene that is surrounding you on all sides. The painting surrounding us measures 38 meters in diameter and covers an area of 2,350 square meters. In the area that remains between the audience and the panoramic picture, you can see the three-dimensional human figures and machines which cover a total area of 3,000 square meters.

Work on this picture started in 2005 and was completed in 2008. Eight different talented artists have contributed to the painting. 10,000 live models were employed in the project. The sections of the walls that were destroyed and the extent of these areas has been determined according to the report concerned with the repairs of the walls that was presented to Hizir Bey, the first mayor of Istanbul.

When a painting is framed it is limited; no matter how great the impression of three-dimensions may be, one can still see the edges of the picture, thus making it clear how far the picture is removed from where you. However, as there is nothing in the “İstanbul 1453 Panoramic Museum” that one could call the “limit” or “frame” of the picture, anyone looking on the painting will be able to perceive the work in its true dimensions.

The moment the observer steps onto the platform they will experience a shock that lasts for 10 seconds. This situation is a result of your confusion at not being able to find reference points for dimension, like a start or a finish to the painting, thus increasing the impression of the picture’s reality. Here people, even though they are entering a closed location, feel as if they are entering a three-dimensional exterior space

Fatih, who was able to conquer the hearts with the free and just administration he introduced, also wanted to turn the magnificent city he had conquered into a center of learning and arts. The museum of the conquest, which wants to make a contribution to this heritage, strives to ensure that every moment of the time you spend here is stimulating. For those who do not have time to read the “Istanbul Wall Panels”, the main idea of the wall panels have been summed up in brief sentences. In addition, the automatic audio commentary in the museum will give relevant information.

While going towards the section in which the panoramic drawing is located, that is, the heart of the Panorama 1453 Museum, you walk down the Corridors of Conquest. These corridors consist of two floors and on the walls you can see the “Istanbul Wall Panels”, accompanying you as you proceed to the panoramic drawing.

Wall panels and dramatic documentaries have been prepared to inform and enlighten visitors on their way to the Panoramic drawing. Starting with the history of Constantinople and ending with the death of Fatih Sultan Mehmet II, the wall panels discuss different aspects of Constantinople / Istanbul, the Conquest, and Sultan Mehmet II.

In this exhibition, place has been given to photographs of original miniatures, engravings, plans, sketches, drawings and original objects; the intention is that, as far as possible, events be brought to life with contemporary descriptions, perceptions and interpretations, as well as with art work from the period. The texts have taken into account the wide range of visitors, and have been prepared to provide not only the most basic information, but also give an academic analysis in a popular style.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Panaroma 1453 History Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : info@panoramikmuze.com
Phone : +90 212 415 1453
Fax : +90 212 664 1964

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VAKIFLAR CARPETS AND RUGS MUSEUM

Sultanahmet, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'19.6"N 28°58'39.1"E / 41.005455, 28.977537

Vakiflar Carpets And Rugs Museum photo vakifrug_sultanahmet110.jpg

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The Istanbul Carpet Museum (Vakıflar Halı Müzesi) is located in the Hünkar Kasrı of Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) . It is a small building constructed in conjunction with the Sultanahmet Mosque between 1609-1617.

The two-story museum has a varied collection of carpets and rugs from the 14-19th centuries. The museums has unique pieces of old Ottoman rugs and kilims.

This museum is located in the Hünkar Kasrı (royal residence), which stands north of the Sultanahmet mosque (known as Blue Mosque) complex. Hunkar Kasrı was the place where the Sultan used to rest before he would join the prayer in the mosque.

The museum is installed in the Blue Mosque's imperial pavilion. The museum contains a fine collection of Usak, Bergama and Konya carpets dating from the 16th to the 19th century and has around 500 total pieces.

The best examples of 13th-20th century Turkish carpets are exhibited along the ramp, which is the entrance to the pavilion. They were also exhibited in the rooms where the Sultans used to rest. The carpets and kilims on display have been restored and are displayed in a contemporary fashion.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



MORE INFO & CONTACT
Phone : +90 0212 518 1330

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YAHYA KEMAL INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM

Beyazit, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'31.5"N 28°58'03.5"E / 41.008739, 28.967636

Yahya Kemal Institute And Museum photo ykemal_museum107.jpg

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MERZİFONLU KARA MUSTAFA PASHA MADRASA

The grand vizier of Mehmet the fourth, Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha was executed after his failure in the second Vienna siege. His son commissioned architect Hamdi to finish the complex in 1690. The complex consists a madrasah, a mescit (small pray room), a primary school, a sebil (water dispenser), shops, a water reservoir and a graveyard. In 1957 the shops, the sebil and graveyard were displaced on the opposite side of the road.

Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha is the person that introduced coffee to the Europeans. He had 600 bags of coffee beans with him during the siege to be used by his men. After his defeat he left the bags in front of the gates of Vienna. A local entrepreneur started serving coffee in in his liquor shop and although the Pasha was unsuccessful in entering Vienna, his coffee was.

Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha Public Fountain protruding as if it were challenging the construction plan, the public fountain of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha Social complex, built In Çarşıkapı in 1684, is one of the biggest, the most beautiful and the latest of the classical public fountains.

INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM

Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa Madrasa of the complex is a research institute, which was established on behalf of the famous poet, Yahya Kemal Beyatlı (1884 - 1958). There is a small cistern under the complex. The museum was opened to guests in 1961. In 2009, the Infant’s School of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa Madrasa had been restored and become Yahya Kemal Museum of today.

The museum is a two-storey building. At the base floor, there are personal library of Yahya Kemal, some postcards and letters in his handwriting, his identity card, passports, bank documents, notebooks, shaving set and bottles of cologne and the first edition of all of his books.

At the top floor, you can see the suitcase he used when travelling, personal things like pen and glasses, photos from different times of his life, photographs signed by Atatürk, his family tree, his table and chair he used at Park Otel and golf equipments.

Yahya Kemal was born Ahmet Agah on December 2, 1884 in Skopje, then in the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. He wrote under pen names such as Agah Kemal, Esrar, Mehmet Agah, and Süleyman Sadi. He came from a prominent family, whose roots could be traced back to the Ottoman court, and he was educated at various private schools.

As he was about to start his higher education, severe disagreements between his parents kept him away from school for some time. When he tried to return to school, he was turned away because it was too late into the semester. His absence from school coincided with the oppressive regime of Sultan Abdülhamit II (reigned 1876-1909), and Yahya Kemal got involved various anti-regime movements. To avoid getting arrested, he went to Paris in 1903.

During his time abroad, he met other exiled Turkish intellectuals, politicians and writers. He traveled extensively in Europe, and was exposed to various cultures. He developed a fondness for literature and was influenced by the French romantic movement. He eventually decided that he wanted to write poetry, and he first studied the historical works of the French Parnasse poets. Consequently, he sought out a way to revitalize Turkish Divan poetry in order to create smooth and pure poetic lines.

Yahya Kemal’s poetry is influenced by music, because he composed with concepts borrowed from Turkish music. While explaining the inner rhythm of the poetic language, he used musical terms such as Tınnet, which denoted the musical value of the sounds or words that pace a line of poetry. For Yahya Kemal this was the only method for creating internal harmony. He states, "Poetry is akın to music. Poetry is not made of couplets, but poetry is melody."

For the most part, he was consistent and practiced what he preached; in his poetry, music and meaning go hand-in-hand. The central thought that runs through Beyatlı’s poems and prose is that the Turkish nation is fashioned with the sweat and tears of the heartland. Even his love poems featured stylized historical and cultural values.

Another peculiarity that can be perceived in Beyatlı’s poetry is the almost feminine sensibility that he displayed towards Islam. His explanation for this is that his father spent very little time with him, and that his first lessons in religion came from long hours spent talking with his mother. Yahya Kemal grew up in a household where hymns and chants were sung, where values of the past were kept alive, hence in his poems he used religion and esthetics together.

When he returned to Istanbul in 1912, Yahya Kemal was already known as a master poet, and the change of regime in the country provided him with opportunities in various high level governmental positions. Beyatlı became a member of parliament for the Urfa (1923-1926), Yozgat (1934), Tekirdağ and Istanbul (1943) provinces. After the Surname Law came into effect in 1934, he adopted the surname "Beyatlı". In 1926, he was appointed ambassador to Poland, where he remained until 1929.

He was ambassador to Portugal between 1930 and 1932, also acting as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Madrid. In 1947, he was appointed as the first Turkish ambassador to Pakistan. After this assignment, his health got progressively worse, and he returned to Turkey in 1949. His medical condition was never properly diagnosed and his health was never fully restored. He died on November 1, 1958 in Istanbul, and was buried in the Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Yahya Kemal Institute And Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : istfetihcemiyeti@ttmail.com
Phone : +90 212 638 61 45
Fax : +90 212 517 4168

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM / ARTIFACTS

Gülhane - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'41.0"N 28°58'52.0"E / 41.011389, 28.981111

Istanbul Archaeological Museum / Artifacts photo archaeology_artifacts103.jpg

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NEW BUILDING

Bases Of The Statues Of Charioteer Porphyrios
Ground Floor - Gallery 2 : Those statue bases found in the second courtyard of the Topkapı Palace belong to the Byzantine Era, 5th century AD. They are the bases of statues erected in the Hippodrome, a heavily used entertainment area of Constantinople. The statue was erected for the charioteer Porphyrios by the order of Emperor Anastasius. In one of these bases, each of which has 4 faces, Porphyrios is depicted frontally in a quadriga, standing, holding a palm branch in his left arm and an object in his raised right arm. The bases, which have Greek inscriptions too, give information about horse races held in the Hippodrome as well.

Tomb Monument Of The Praefectus And High Priest
Ground Floor - Gallery 2 : On this tomb monument dated to the Roman Era, 1st century AD and found in Marmara Ereğlisi, a town in the Marmara region of Turkey, the armored Tiberius Flavius is depicted at the center on his rearing horse. There are 2 Roman soldiers standing on the right side and 3 on the left side.

Palmyran Tomb Chamber
3rd Floor - Gallery 1 : The tomb chamber reproduced for the museum was built by a rich Palmyran family for at least 219 persons. The original tomb is in the Valley of Tombs in Palmyra, but the portraits in the model constructed for the museum are original. The corpses were placed in drawer-like tomb compartments lined up vertically and horizontally and limestone slabs with human busts in high relief and with inscriptions of identity sealed the openings of the compartments. Hypogeum or underground tombs were rich monumental tombs preferred by Palmyrans in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, besides tower tombs and house tombs.

SILOAM INSCRIPTION
3rd Floor - Gallery 1 : It was found in the underground tunnel that feed water to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. This inscription, the oldest Hebrew text written with the Phoenician alphabet, was cut in the rock on the left side of the tunnel, near to the Siloam Pool end. It consists of six lines of different lengths. The tunnel dug through rocks, of which construction is described in the inscription, was feeding water from the Gihon Spring out of the city to the Pool of Siloam in the city. Its construction was ordered by King Hezekiah (725-697 BC). The tunnel is mentioned in Bible's section of 'History of Rulers'.

SIMURGH RELIEFS
Ground Floor - Gallery 2 : On the reliefs dated to the Byzantine Era, 10th century AD, Simurgh is depicted with a wolf head and a body of lion with a tail. This figure, which entered the Byzantine art under the influence of Sassanians who had ruled in Iran, became a widely used mythological figure depicted on textiles, stones and silverware as well.

GEZER CALENDAR
3rd Floor - Gallery 1 : This inscription, made in the 10th century BC and called the Gezer Calendar include the names of months and harvest periods. It is one of the oldest known examples of Hebrew writing.

STATUE OF MARSYAS
3rd Floor - Gallery 1 : The Statue of Marsyas, dated to the Hellenistic period, was found in Tarsus, a historical city in south-central Turkey. He is depicted as hung from a tree and his muscles stretched due to torture draw attention. So to say, he has a physically silent but angry expression. The original version of this special statue should have been placed to the center of a group of statues including the statue of Apollo sitting on his left side and a slave sharpening his knife in order to skin him on his right side.

Marsyas, the main character of an Anatolian story, is depicted while bearing the consequences of his rivalry with Apollo, the god of music. According to the story, Marsyas claims that he plays his flute better than Apollo plays his lyre. Neither of them wins in a musical contest, but Apollo asks Marsyas to turn his instrument upside down and to add his own voice. However, Marsyas cannot meet this challenge and Apollo wins the contest. Angry because of being challenged by a mortal, Apollo skins Marsyas alive and hangs his skin to a pine tree. However, he feels sorry later, breaks his lyre and turns Marsyas into a river.

TUMULUS OF VİZE
Ground Floor - Gallery 2 : The tumulus found in the province of Kırklareli is dated to the 1st century AD. The helmet with a mask, which is the grave gift of this tumulus, reflects the portrait of a young man. It has two parts, the mask and the helmet, which are connected above the forehead with a hinge. On the front plate, there is a mythological scene: Scylla, the most horrible sea monster who smashed the ship of Odysseus, who sacrificed 6 of his ships, is depicted. On the cheek guards, there are depictions of Nike carrying spoils of war.

GROUND FLOOR

Head Of Alexander The Great
Gallery 16 : When the Macedon king Alexander the Great, who lived between 356 and 323 BC, ascended to the throne, he was not even twenty. The legendary commander, who died at the age of 33, has never been forgotten during the twenty-three centuries passed since then, thanks to his glorious and great conquests during a short period of kingdom. He overthrew the Persian Empire and established a great empire extending from Macedonia to India.

The cities founded by Alexander, who spent most of his life in Asia, as military bases turned into cultural and commercial centers later and played an important role in the spread of the Ancient Greek culture up to India. The era of Alexander the Great, of which artistic influences can be followed as well, was a transition period between the periods of Classical Art and Hellenistic Art. The Head of Alexander the Great, dated to the 2nd century BC, was found during excavations at the Lower Agora in Pergamon (Bergama).

His head is inclined towards his shoulder, the lock of hair from the front of his head, slightly pulled back, resembles a lion's mane and his hair is irregularly waved in both sides. This is the hairstyle of Alexander the Great. All of the aspects such as his heavy eyelids and round eyes, thick eyelashes, slightly open mouth that does not show his teeth are characteristics of the statues of Alexander the Great.

This is the style of portraits made by the sculptor Lysippos, who lived in the 4th century BC and led the transition between the Classic Art and the Hellenistic Art. The artist worked for Alexander the Great and he was the only sculptor of Alexander. The deep forehead lines call the big problems faced by the king despite his youth to the mind. This work is reflecting the typical characteristics of the Pergamon sculpture school during the era of King Eumenes II.

SARCOPHAGUS OF THE CRYING WOMEN
Gallery 8 : In the Sarcophagus of the Crying Women, found at the Royal Necropolis in Sidon like the Alexander Sarcophagus, nothing could be found other than the bones of its owner and a bronze belt buckle, since it had been robbed in an earlier time. From the partial traces on the marble that remained until today, it is understood that it had been dyed in blue and red initially. It is the best example of the group called by archaeologists "Sarcophagi with Columns", and it is considered as a final resting place, like the "Mausoleum of Halicarnassus" or the "Nereid Monument", rather than a tomb.

Its architectural features were used in the architecture of the old building of the İstanbul Archaeological Museums. It is an example of the Greek sculpture displaying Eastern influences. The shaved heads, bear feet, ragged clothes of the figures and their movements and expressions of sadness are features of Semitic societies. It is thought to be the sarcophagus of the King of Sidon, Straton (374-358 BC), who was said to have led a life of pleasure. The sarcophagus has the shape of an Ionian temple. It is thought that the figures of 18 sad women between the columns represent the wives of the dead person or the women in his seraglio, rather than crying women who were common in the Middle Eastern countries.

ALEXANDER SARCOPHAGUS
Gallery 8 : The Alexander Sarcophagus is considered as the most important artifact in the İstanbul Archaeological Museums. It was found in the Royal Necropolis in Sidon in 1887. Though it is called the Alexander Sarcophagus, in fact, it does not belong to Alexander the Great. It is thought to be the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus, the king of Sidon. .

On the front side of the sarcophagus, Alexander is shown on his horse. Since Alexander claimed descent from Heracles, he is depicted with the skin of the Nemean Lion on his head. Additionally, next to his ear, a ram horn, the symbol of the Egyptian god Amun is seen. Because of this depiction on the sarcophagus, it was named after Alexander. In fact, Alexander the Great died in Babylon and his body was transferred to Alexandria. It is known that his sarcophagus was an anthropoid one.

On one of the long sides of the sarcophagus, there is a scene of battle between Persians and Greeks. Greek and Persian soldiers can easily be distinguished thanks to their outfits. Greeks have short tunics or cloaks, whereas Persian soldiers, who had to cover all parts of their bodies excluding their faces and fingers, wear trousers, more than one long-sleeved shirts and tiaras covering their heads. The scene of battle is thought to represent the Battle of Issus, won by Alexander the Great in 333 BC and opened the doors of Phoenicia and Syria.

As a result of this battle, the fate of Abdalonymus, who is thought to be the owner of the sarcophagus, changed and he became the king of Sidon after a while. Two hunting scenes are depicted on the second long side of the sarcophagus. It is known that hunting with horses and carriages was usual for Near Eastern civilizations and that Alexander the Great participated in such events in Phoenicia.

It is accepted that Alexander's aim was to establish a Greek-Persian empire through uniting Eastern and Hellenistic cultures after conquering Iran. Towards the end of his life, he married a Persian princess, started to wear Persian clothes and accepted Persian dynastic customs. The Persians and Greeks who friendly hunt on one side of the sarcophagus should be considered within this perspective. It is known that after defeating Darius III in Issus, Alexander the Great passed through the Amanus Mountains and entered Syria following the Mediterranean shores.

The people of Sidon, who disliked the Persian administration, opened the doors of the rich cities to the Macedon army and asked Alexander the Great to choose a king for them. Alexander, who had no time to choose a king for Sidon, gave this job to Hephaestion. He found Abdalonymus, who was a distant relative of the royal dynasty of Sidon but who had a quiet life in the country until chosen as the king. The name of Abdalonymus means "servant of gods" in Persian and the Alexander the Great and Hephaestion depictions were therefore added to the sarcophagus ordered by him.

When the carvings are analyzed, it is understood that those who made this sarcophagus were masters of the Eastern art of decoration. The upper row of the acroter consists of eagles, partially with no remains other than pieces of wings, and women heads. In the Ancient Syria, it was believed that eagles were birds carrying the souls of dead people to heaven.

Nine smaller women heads that line up at the bottoms of each of two sides bring the mother goddess worshipped since the prehistoric periods of Anatolia and Mesopotamia to mind. Upper acroters of the both pediments are decorated with Persian griffins and herbal figures. At each of the corners of the pediment, a lion is placed as sarcophagus protectors. Those lions with thin necks and small bodies, which resemble dogs, are elements belonging to the Ionian art.

Both the body and the cover of the sarcophagus is made of the same kind of marble. The carvings on the sarcophagus are so fine that it is thought that this artifact should have been made in Sidon since it would have been too dangerous to transfer such a work from Greece to Lebanon. There is no information about its sculptor. Painters of the sarcophagus should have been masters of their job as well. It seems that the eyes, eyelashes, lips and clothes were dyed in purple, yellow, blue, red and violet, and that the figures were slightly varnished.

STATUE OF OCEANUS
Gallery 19 : The statue brought from Ephesus and dated to the 2nd century AD depicts the River God Oceanus while he lies on a rocky ground. The god is shown as an old man, but his muscles are strong despite his age. His left arm is resting on a container resembling a big jug. Oceanus is a son of Uranos and Gaia. He is considered to be an enormous river encircling the world. He is the father of all streams. He married his sister Tethys, who represented the fertility of the sea, and they had many children. Their sons are streams and rivers, and their daughters are creeks and spring waters.

STATUE OF AN EPHEBOS
Gallery 17 : This is the statue of an ephebos, i.e. a male teenager. Probably he is an athlete and after a heavy exercise, he rests against a long, rectangular column, which once had a relief or herm. He should have just finished his exercise, since he wears a mantle-like cloth for protection. His small and round head is the most component of the statue. Eyelashes are apparent, eyes are big and the lips are slightly open. It is one of the unique ancient artifacts found until today. Probably, it was used to decorate a gymnasium. It is an important example, since it shows that not only gods, goddesses and emperors, but also ordinary people who were important for the society were portrayed in the ancient era.

MILETUS - BATHS OF FAUSTINA STATUE GROUP
Gallery 19 : This statue group depicting the god Apollo and his muses, i.e. sources of inspiration, was found at the Baths of Faustina in the ancient city of Miletus and it is dated to the 2nd century AD. Faustina was the daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. After her death, the famous baths of Miletus were named after her.

In this statue group, Apollo, the god of light, wisdom and reason, is depicted as a muscled young man. He is playing his lyre placed on a pedestal. His facial expression is celestial and cool. His body is elegant and well proportioned; it is shaped very orderly like that of a women. As if he is playing with the strings before starting to play, he is holding the plectrum of the lyre. That kind of depictions of the god is known as the "Apollo Citharoedus" or "Lyre Playing Apollo".

STATUE OF TYCHE
Gallery 20 : This is a copy of an artifact dating from the 4th century BC made in the Roman Era, in the 2nd century AD. That richly decorated artifact was found in Üskübü, Bolu. Goddess Tyche wears a crown representing the city wall and ornamented with olive leaves. She holds a horn of plenty full of various fruits and a child named Plutus, the symbol of wealth, in her left arm. Tyche is a daughter of Oceanus. She is the goddess of fate, luck and success. Every city has a Tyche. Tyche's are guardian goddesses of cities and they are depicted with crowns shaped like city walls.

HEAD OF SAPPHO
Gallery 18 : The Head of Sappho, an example of the portraits from the Roman Era, belongs to poet Sappho, born on the island of Lesbos (Midilli). Between 7 to 5th centuries BC, there were many lyric poets. Sappho was the most famous poet of that era, but only one of here poems, a hymn to Aphrodite, remained as a whole since then. Sappho, who lived far away from Lesbos, in Sicily, during her youth, became the teacher of a group of women worshipping Aphrodite after her return. According to a legend, she killed herself by jumping off cliffs when she was rejected by her beloved man.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Istanbul Archaeological Museums Administration

MORE INFO & CONTACT
Tel : +90 212 520 7740
Fax : +90 212 527 4300
E-Mail : info@istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

İSTANBUL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMS

Gülhane - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'41.0"N 28°58'52.0"E / 41.011389, 28.981111

Istanbul Archaeological Museum photo archaeology_museum115.jpg

PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

Istanbul Archaeology Museum established in 1881, is one of the largest and most famous archaeological museums of its kind in the world. The museum houses over one million archaeological objects that represent almost all of the eras and civilizations in world history, i.e., the Mediterranean basin, the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

The İstanbul Archaeological Museums, a museum affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is located in İstanbul's Sultanahmet neighborhood, on the Osman Hamdi Bey slope connecting the Gülhane Park with the Topkapı Palace. Its name is plural, since there are three different museums under the same administration: The Archaeological Museum, the Ancient Orient Museum (Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi) and Tiled Kiosk Museum (Çinili Köşk Müzesi).

During an İstanbul Archaeological Museums tour, it is possible to visit the extraordinarily beautiful garden of the museum and the three different buildings inside this garden. The İstanbul Archaeological Museums, which is housing various artifacts from civilizations that had left their traces to different periods of the history, is one of the 10 most important world-class museums designed and used as a museum building.

Additionally, it is the first institution in Turkey arranged as a museum. Besides its spectacular collections, the architectural aspects of its buildings and its garden are of historical and natural importance. The İstanbul Archaeological Museums is welcoming all visitors who want to make a journey in the corridors of the history and to trace the remains of ancient civilizations.

*Classical Section
Troy Collection, Glassware Collection, Terra Cotta Ware Collection, Metal and Ornamental Ware Collection, Treasury, Pottery Collection, Stoneware Collection, Islamic Coins Section, Non-Islamic Coins Section, Islamic Coins Section, Non-Islamic Coins Section
*Ancient Orient Museum
*Tiled Kiosk Museum

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM and THE NEW BUILDING

Main Building (Old Building)
Its construction was started in 1881 by Osman Hamdi Bey and with the additions in 1902 and 1908 it gained its latest form. Its architect is Alexander Vallaury. The outer face of the building was made by inspiring from the Iskender Tomb and Crying Women tombs. It is a beautiful example of neoclassical buildings in Istanbul. On the upper floor of the two-storey building, there are the Treasury section, the Non-Islamic and Islamic Coin Cabinets and the Library.

On the upper floor of the two storey building there are small stone works, pots and pans, small terracotta statues, the Treasure Department and approximately 800.000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations, medals and Non-Muslim and Muslim Coin Cabinets, in which coin moulds were kept, and a Library with approximately 70.000 books. On the bottom floor saloons of the building, famous tombs are displayed such as Iskender Tomb, Crying Women Tomb, Satrap Tomb, Lykia Tomb, Tabnit Tomb that are in the Sayda king graveyard.

On the bottom floor, besides the display of tombs, there is Old Age Statuary display in which statues and reliefs from important antic cities and regions are displayed. In this display, the development of the art of statuary from the Archaic Period to the Byzantium Period is displayed in chronological order with outstanding examples.

Additional Buildings (New Building)
The additional building attached to the southeast of the main building is of 6 storeys. There are depots in the two storeys under the ground floor. The four storeys of the building are arranged as exhibition saloons. There is an inscription “Istanbul for Ages” on the first floor of the building, "Anatolia and Troia for Ages" on the second floor and "Surrounding Cultures of Anatolia: Cyprus, Syria-Palestine" on the top floor.

After its opening on June 13, 1891, the Archaeological Museum expanded its collection rapidly. Currently, on the ground floor of the Archaeological Museum, sculptures from the Ancient Age from the Archaic Era to the Roman Era may be seen on the right side, and world wide famous unique artifacts such as the Alexander Sarcophagus, the Sarcophagus of Crying Women and the Sarcophagus of Tabnit that came from the Royal Necropolis in Sidon on the left side.

The "Surrounding Cultures of İstanbul" section, which was opened in the cellar of the new building in 1998, is a hall where artifacts from various ages found during excavations at the surrounding archaeological sites and tumuli. It has sub-sections of "Thrace-Bithynia and Byzantium". The ground floor of the new building hosts the "Children's Museum" exhibition.

The "İstanbul Through the Ages" collection is exhibited on the first floor of the new building, the "Anatolia and Troy Through the Ages" collection on the second floor and the "Surrounding Cultures of Anatolia: Artifacts from Syria, Palestine and Cyprus" collection on the third floor, in chronological order.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Istanbul Archaeological Museums Administration

MORE INFO & CONTACT
Tel : +90 212 520 7740
Fax : +90 212 527 4300
E-Mail : info@istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

ORHAN KEMAL LITERATURE MUSEUM

Cihangir, Beyoğlu - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°01'50.0"N 28°59'00.8"E / 41.030556, 28.983556

Orhan Kemal Literature Museum photo orhankemal_museum105.jpg

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The Orhan Kemal Literature Museum (Turkish: Orhan Kemal Müzesi) is a literary museum and archive in Istanbul, Turkey dedicated to Turkish literature, and named after novelist Orhan Kemal (1914–1970).

Esrablished with the support of Orhan Kemal Culture and Arts Center, the museum is situated in a five-story building in Cihangir neighborhood of Beyoğlu. On display are photographs about his private life taken by Ara Güler, family photographs, original first edition of his books, his private letters, critics, articles and dissertations about his works. His study room contains his typewriter and many other personal belongings. His death mask is also exhibited in the museum. The building houses a bibliothek and a cafeteria for visitors.

Orhan Kemal (15 September 1914, Ceyhan, Adana – 2 June 1970, Sofia, Bulgaria) is the pen name of Turkish novelist Mehmet Raşit Öğütçü. He is known for his realist novels that describe the life of the poor in Turkey. Orhan Kemal was born in Adana, Ceyhan, on 15 September 1914. He was the son of Abdülkadir Kemali Bey, who was a Member of Parliament and Minister, and Azime Hanım, who was an intellectual secondary school graduate.

Kemal's father was obliged to flee Turkey for Syria, due to his party being suspected of involvement in a recent revolt, where Kemal remained with him for a year before returning to Adana in 1932. Kemal worked as a labourer, a weaver and as a clerk in a cotton mill. While doing his military service in 1938 his political opinions led to his being sentenced to a 5-year term of imprisonment.

The charges included "reading the works of Maxim Gorky and Nazim Hikmet" and "propagandising for foreign regimes and encouraging revolt". While in prison in Bursa he was the cellmate of Hikmet, who was his major literary influence. He had been writing poems until he met Hikmet. With his encouragement, he switched to stories. After being released from prison in 1943 he returned to Adana, working as a labourer, and beginning to publish his writings.

Although he started as a writer of poetry he soon began to publish stories, from 1943 under the adopted name Orhan Kemal. Following the birth of his third child (of four) Kemal moved his family to Istanbul in 1951 where he worked again as a labourer and then from 1951 as a clerk at the Tuberculosis Foundation, living with little money and all the time writing.

He was arrested again in 1966 for "forming a communist propagandist cell" but was released two months later after the charges could not be substantiated. Orhan Kemal, (Mehmet Raşit Öğütçü) writer of short stories and novels was born in Adana in 15.09.1914  and died in Sofia due to intracranial hemorrhage in 02.06.1970. His father, Abdülkadir Kemali, was an MP from Kastamonu during the first term parliament of the Turkish Republic.

Abdülkadir Kemali, a lawyer by profession, established The Ahali Party which was dissolved causing its founder to have to flee to Syria. In order to accompany his father, Orhan Kemal had to miss his final year of secondary school. Orhan Kemal stayed in Syria for a year, returning to Adana in 1932. He worked as a laborer, weaver and clerk in cotton gin mills.

During his military service he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for his political opinions. Bursa prison became a turning point in his life and art work as he met Nazım Hikmet who greatly influenced him. On his release in 1943, Orhan Kemal, moved to Istanbul (1951), where he worked as a labourer, a vegetable transporter and then as a clerk for the Tuberculosis Foundation. From 1950 onwards he tried to live upon the income gained from writing. Orhan Kemal died in Bulgaria. His body was returned to Turkey and buried in Zincirlikuyu cemetery.

Works
Orhan Kemal's stories and novels generally depict the lives of ordinary working people trying to hold on to their dignity in conditions of poverty or deprivation. His first poem was published in Yedigün under the name of Raşit Kemal (Duvarlar 25.04.1939) Further poems written under the same pen name are Yedigün and Yeni Mecmua 1940. On meeting Nazım Hikmet, Kemal wrote under the name of “Orhan Raşit” (Yeni Edebiyat 1941) Impressed by Nazım Hikmet, Kemal concentrated on stories as opposed to poems. His first story,

“Bir Yılbaşı Macerası”, was published in 1941. In 1942 he adopted the name Orhan Kemal when writing stories and poems in Yürüyüş. He found fame through stories in Varlık in 1944, his first collection of short stories “Ekmek Kavgası”, and first novel “Baba Evi”, was published in 1949. Early works depicted characters form the immigrant quarters of Adana Kemal described the social structure, worker employer relationships and the daily struggles of petty people from industrialised Turkey.

He aimed to present an optimistic view through the heroes of his stories. He never changed his simple exposition and thus became one of the most skilful names of Turkish stories and novels. He also wrote film scripts and plays including “İspinozlar” and “Kardeş Payı”. Dramatisations have been made of his novels and stories including “Murtaza”, “Eskici Dükkanı”.

His play about life in prison in the 1940s “72.Koğuş” (Cell 72) has been made as a feature film twice, most recently in 2011, starring well-known actors Hülya Avşar and Yavuz Bingöl. He also wrote a story named "Hanımın Çiftliği" (English, Lady's farm) which took a major success in Turkish history of soap operas.

The Orhan Kemal Literature Museum and library dedicated to Kemal and his work is to be found in the modest flat in which he lived at 30 Akarsu Caddesi, Cihangir, Istanbul. After his death a literary award was established in his name, the Orhan Kemal Novel Prize, given since 1972.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Orhan Kemal Literature Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : info@orhankemal.org
Phone : +90 212 292 9245 - +90 212 292 1213
Fax : +90 212 243 6782

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

Friday, July 28, 2017

MEHMET ARSAY CLASSIC CAR MUSEUM

Halkalı - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°03'28.0"N 28°47'47.0"E / 41.057778, 28.796389

Mehmet Arsay Classic Car Museum photo mehmetarsay_museum115.jpg

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With a private collection ranging from an 1899 Decauville to a 1978 Porsche, the Mehmet Arsay Classic Car Museum is open on Saturday and Sunday. The concept of an automobile museum did not gain popularity until the 1990s. Arsay, a car collector, founded Turkey's first car museum in 1994.

Lying in Istanbul's İkitelli district, the museum displays nostalgic cars mostly brought from abroad. Among them, there is a staff car of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, which was renovated with the consent of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

A workshop opened behind the museum is where all cars undergo thorough renovation and maintenance. Cengiz Arsay, a businessman, established the museum in memory of his father. He frequently uses his classic cars, and is happy to see people, especially youth, showing interest in cars.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Mehmet Arsay Classic Car Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : klasikotomobilmuzesi@gmail.com
Phone : +90 212 548 4000 - +90 212 697 0069
Fax : +90 212 696 5386

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

TILED KIOSK MUSEUM / IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS

Sultanahmet, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'43.0"N 28°58'52.5"E / 41.011941, 28.981260

Tiled Kiosk Museum photo tiledkiosk_museum117.jpg

PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Gallery 2 : One of the niches of the room in the left corner against the Gülhane Park was transformed into a fountain in the era of Sultan Murad III (1574-1595). The figure of peacock in the middle of herbal motifs on the stone plate attracts interest. The ornaments are hand-carved and gilded. From the two marble inscriptions of twelve verses carved in Nastaleeq script on the two sidewalls of the fountain, it is understood that it was built in the year of 999 according to the Islamic calendar (1590 AD) and that the Tiled Kiosk was called the "Glazed Palace" in those years.

During the last rearrangements, a reproduction of Osman Hamdi Bey's oil painting "Fountain of Youth" (Ab-ı Hayat Çeşmesi), dating from 1904, was placed to the niche against the fountain. For this painting, Osman Hamdi Bey had used the photo taken while he was standing next to the fountain.

TILE MIHRAB
Gallery 3 : This tile mihrab from the Karamanoğlu İbrahim Bey Imaret (public kitchen) built in 1432 is dated to circa second half of the 14th century or early 15th century was made using the colorful glazing technique, which was popular in the early Ottoman era, and is placed in the middle gallery, on the right side of the entrance.

The İbrahim Bey Imaret was ruined in the course of time, and the mihrab was transferred to İstanbul in late 19th century by the order of Halil Edhem Bey and it was mounted to its current place in the Tiled Kiosk Museum in early 20th century. On the inscription panel of the mihrab consisting of tile plates ornamented with herbal and geometric figures, there are the 255th verse (ayat) of the Sura (chapter) Al-Baqara (Ayet ul Kursi) in Naskh script and the 256th and 257th verses in Kufic script.

CANDLE - ARTIFACTS MADE IN İZNİK
Gallery 3 : A new era opened in the workshops of İznik in late 15th century-early 16th century. The settlement of tile masters in İznik and their communication with the Nakkashane (the atelier of the miniature and illumination artists) built in the Topkapi Palace by Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (1451-1481) accelerated the stylistic development. This candle, one of the highest quality examples of earthenware of the Ottoman era with the Islamic creed (Shahada) written on its neck was made for the Sokullu Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1571-1572) in Kadırga, İstanbul. It is possible to observe the "coral red", the most apparent characteristic of the 16th century, on this artifact.

CANDLE HANGER (ORNAMENTAL BALL) - ARTIFACTS MADE IN KÜTAHYA
Gallery 5 : From the beginning on, the tile and ceramic production in Kütahya followed a path parallel to the development in İznik. According to scientific analyses on tile and ceramic works in İznik and Kütahya, the same technologies were used in both cities except a few differences. In early 18th century, the production in İznik ended finally, but the workshops in Kütahya continued to exist thanks to their production policies oriented towards the needs of the people and to their characteristic style.

The artifacts in the collections of the museum originating from Kütahya date from the 18th century to the early 20th century. The Seraphim (angel) figure on the candle hanger that is made for a church and dated to the second half of the 18th century attracts interest. The usually egg-shaped candle hangers are hanged on candles with chains.

PLATE - ÇANAKKALE
Gallery 6 : From the late 17th century to the first quarter of 20th century, Çanakkale is a local center of ceramics distinguished from İznik and Kütahya by its works with different forms and interesting figures. Travelers who visited Çanakkale mentioned the ceramic works produced in this city. The artifacts in this exhibition belong to the period between the 18th century and the early 20th century. This plate, with a giraffe silhouette in the middle of stylistic trees, is one of the high quality examples dated to the second half of the 19th century.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP

WEB SITE : Istanbul Archaeological Museums Administration

MORE INFO & CONTACT
Tel : +90 212 520 7740
Fax : +90 212 527 4300
E-Mail : info@istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

TILED KIOSK MUSEUM

Sultanahmet, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'43.0"N 28°58'52.5"E / 41.011941, 28.981260

Tiled Kiosk Museum photo tiledkiosk_museum119.jpg

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It was used as the Imperial Museum between 1875 and 1891 before the collection moved to the newly constructed main building. It was opened to public in 1953 as a museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, and was later incorporated into the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

The Tiled Kiosk was commissioned by Sultan Mehmed II in 1472. It is one of the oldest structures in Istanbul featuring Ottoman civil architecture and was a part of the Topkapı Palace outer gardens. This summer pavilion dating back to 1472 is an example of early Ottoman architecture influenced by the Seljuks, with a facade in which colorful movement is achieved by columns, a balcony with an antechamber, and cut tile decorations. There is a long inscription on the wall beside the door.

The entrance façade of the kiosk is single-flat and the back façade is of two-storeyed. There is a marble porch of 14 columns in the entrance. The entrance exedra is decorated with mosaic enamels. Various chinaware and ceramics from the Seljuk and Ottoman period are displayed in the Kiosk that consists of 6 rooms and a middle saloon.

This is the striking two-storied, building opposite the Archeological Museum. It is actually the first pavilion of the Topkapı Palace and was built by Mehmet the Conqueror. The domed entrance section is flanked with vaulted rooms. Here 13th - 19th century Seljuk and Ottoman ceramics and tiles are exhibited in chronological order. 16th century tiles from Iznik constitute one of the most important collections of the museum.

The collections of the Tiled Kiosk Museum consist of about 2000 artifacts belonging to the Seljuk and Ottoman eras, dating from the 11th-20th centuries. These artifacts include those that existed when the museum was incorporated into the İstanbul Archaeological Museums due to its closeness and those acquired through excavations, purchases, donations and confiscations.

In the Tiled Kiosk Museum, tiles and pottery chosen from these collections are exhibited: There are artifacts from the Seljuk era in the room left to the entrance, slip casted artifacts from Miletus in the iwan on the left that is opening to outside, artifacts made in İznik in the middle gallery and in the room with five corners, artifacts made in Kütahya in the room at the right corner facing the Gülhane Park, and artifacts made in Çanakkale in the right iwan opening to outside.

COLLECTIONS
The collection includes notable examples of Islamic calligraphy, tiles, and rugs as well as ethnographic displays on various cultures in Turkey, particularly nomad groups. These displays recreate rooms or dwellings from different time periods and regions. Rare works of art created in various Islamic lands are on display in the hallways and the rooms. The stone, baked clay and metal objects, ceramic wares and handwritten books are some of the most valuable examples of their period.

Carpets
The carpet section forming the richest collection of carpet art in the world had a separate importance and caused the museum's being famous as a "Carpet Museum" for long years. The museum has the richest carpet collection of not only Turkey, but also the world. Besides rare Seljuk carpets, prayer rugs and animal figured carpets belonging to the 15th centuries and the carpets produced in Anatolia between the 15th - 17th centuries and called as "Holbein Carpet" in the West inspired by the geometrically figures or kufi writing are the most valuable parts of this section.

Turkish and Islamic Works Museum carpet collection that became richer with Iranian and Caucasian carpets and famous Uşak and palace carpet samples is a reference, which the ones carrying out a serious research on the carpet art in the world must apply to.

The carpets exhibited in the section fitted with glass panes near the large chambers are magnificent examples of 13th-20th century handmade Turkish carpets. This matchless collection is the richest of its kind in the world. 13th century Seljuk carpets and other examples from subsequent centuries are exhibited with much care. The floor below the carpet section is the ethnographic collection where one can get a glimpse of everyday Turkish life and objects in daily household use in the past.

Hand Writings and Calligraphy
Koran-i Kerims constituting a big part of the writing collection of Turkish and Islamic Works Museum from the 7th century to the 20th century come from a large geographical region where Islam has spread over. It is one of the rare collections, where Emevi, Abbasi, Egypt and Syria Tulunoğulları, Fatımi, Eyyubi, Memluk, Moğol, Türkmen, Seljuk, Timuri, Safavi, Kaçar and Anatolian Principalities and Ottoman calligraphy creations can be observed all together.

Among the hand writings, except Korans, there are books (some of them with pictures) written about various subjects and these draw attention both in terms of their writing styles and their coatings. Imperial edicts, warrants bearing the signatures of Ottoman sultans, the sultan's signatures each of which is a work of art, Turkish and Iranian miniature writings make Turkish and Islamic Works Museum one of the most important museums of the world.

Wooden Works
The most important parts of this collection are the samples of Anatolian Wood art of the 9th - 10th century. Besides the unique parts that remained from the Anatolian Seljuks and principalities, mother - of - pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell ornamented wooden works of the Ottoman Period, unique samples of inlaying art, Koran part cases, bookrests, drawers are the interesting parts of this rich collection.

Stone Arts
Stone works belonging to Emevi, Abbasi, Memluk, Seljuk, Ottoman periods, some of which have motifs and some of which have figures, but all of which have writings have been gathered in Turkish and Islamic Works Museum. Unique and elite samples of stone art of Seljuk Period, grave stones on which hunting scenes, fairy creatures such as sphinx, griphon, dragon, early - period stone works with kufi writings, inscriptions written in different methods that are projections of Ottoman calligraphy art are important both in quality and in quantity.

Ceramic and Glass
In this collection consisting mostly of the ceramic works found in the excavations made between 1908 - 14, the ones from Samarra, Rakka, Tel Halep, Keşan are in the first ranks. It is possible to see the stages of Early - Islamic Period ceramic art in the collection of Turkish and Islamic Works Museum. The mosaic, mihrab and wall encaustic tile samples belonging to the Anatolian Principalities and Seljuk Periods and the plaster ornaments of Konya Kılıçaslan Palace constitute another important part of the collection. Ottoman encaustic tile and ceramic art samples end with near - period Kütahya and Çanakkale ceramics. The glass collection starts with the 9th century Islamic glass art samples and includes the 15th century Memluk candles, Ottoman period glass art samples.

Metal Arts
Turkish and Islamic Works Museum Metal Art Collection starting with the unique samples belonging to the Great Seljuk Empire period and mortar, censer, long - spouted ewer, mirror and dirhems constitute an important collection with the door knockers of Cizre Ulu Mosque and the 14th century candelabrums ornamented with constellation and planet symbols, which have an important place in Islamic metal art. Among the Ottoman metal art samples starting from the 16th century and reaching the 19th century, there are silver, brass, tombac (ornamented with valuable stones) crests, candles, rose water cans, censers, washtub / ewer sets.

Ethnographic Department
Ethnographic parts collected for long years have found the possibility of being exhibited with the transfer of Turkish and Islamic Works Museum to Ibrahim Pasha Palace. The youngest part of the museum is exhibited in this collection, consisting of carpet - kilim looms collected from various regions of Anatolia, wool painting techniques, public weaaving and ornamenting art samples, clothes in their regional enhancements, house goods, hand arts, hand art instruments, nomad tents exhibited in places special to them.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP



WEB SITE : Istanbul Archaeological Museums Administration

MORE INFO & CONTACT
Tel : +90 212 520 7740
Fax : +90 212 527 4300
E-Mail : info@istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM / ARTIFACTS

Sultanahmet, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'22.1"N 28°58'29.7"E / 41.006126, 28.974911

Turkish And Islamic Arts Museum photo turkislamart_museum107.jpg

PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works and Arts has a collection consisting of authentic items reflecting the lifestyle and culture of the Turkish people. The museum consists of seven sections: Wooden Works, Ceramics and Glass, the Metal Art, Ethnography, Stone Art, Carpet and Hand Writing and Calligraphy Section.

The collection includes notable examples of Islamic calligraphy, tiles, and rugs as well as ethnographic displays on various cultures in Turkey, particularly nomad groups. These displays recreate rooms or dwellings from different time periods and regions. The rich carpet collection of the museum is unprecedented  showcased together with other rare items from around the world. Its collection of roughly 15,000 manuscripts (spanning through the 8th-19th centuries) introduce its visitors to a historical adventure of the development of a basic civilization.

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works and Arts is a cultural place showing how to masterfully bring together the core culture of a nation with a great civilization. After having been honoured with Islam, Turks played a leading role in the development of the Muslim civilization, its cultural richness, and social life. The museum provides an ethnographically rich detail for its visitors with its objects made of stone, ceramic, wooden and metal as well as black tents and yurts which were the essential components of the nomadic Turks’ daily lives.

The main collections on the upper level include rare and beautiful works from all periods of the Turkish and Islamic world, including objects from the Ummayid, Abbasid, Mamluk, Seljuk, Beylik and Ottoman periods, ranging in date from the seventh century to the nineteenth. The collections include carpets, manuscripts and calligraphy, miniatures, woodwork, ceramics and glassware, metalwork and folk-arts, altogether an extraordinary exhibit, superbly displayed.

The ethnographical collection consists principally of objects belonging to the Yürük, the nomadic Turkish people of Anatolia, whose way of life has not changed in its essentials since the first Turcoman tribes made their way into Asia Minor after the battle of Manzikert in 1071. The most fascinating exhibits here are the black goat-hair tents of the Yürük, furnished with objects that these nomads still use in their daily life, a living heritage of Anatolian Turkish culture.

The Anatolian woodworks belong to the 9th and 10th centuries as do the works during the Anatolian Seljuk and Beylik period. The woodworks of tortoiseshells inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl belong to the Ottoman period and are under exhibit in the Section of Wooden Works.
       
In the Section of Ceramics and Glass, visiters can see examples of 10th century Islamic glass art samples, ceramic works discovered during excavation works between the years of 1908 and 1914, mihrab and wall encaustic tile samples, and plaster ornaments of the Konya Kılıçaslan Palace.
       
In the Metal Art Section, visitors are able to view the door knockers from the Cizre Ulu Mosque, constellation and planet symbols, spouted ewer, and dirhems constitute.

Ethnographic pieces, which have been collected over a long period of time are on exhibit in the Etnography Section. Among the works exhibited in this section are nomadic society’s daily life tools and equipment, costumes, kilim looms, and materials giving information about the art of carpet weaving. In the other sections of the museum, there are also many qualified works of art, science, art, and culture that shed light on Turkish-Islamic culture which have managed to become inseparable parts of the visual composition of the culture.

Of the museums of Istanbul, this one holds a great interest to the domestic and foreign tourists, researchers, students, and art-lovers who it welcomes. Within the walls of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works and Arts lies a treasure of culture which was sophisticatedly developed in the past and which has been carried into future.

Turkish and Islamic Works Museum has been awarded with the Special Jury Award of Museum of the Year Competition of the European Council in 1984 and with the prize given by European Council - Unesco for its studies for making the children love the culture inheritance. Turkish and Islamic Works Museum, that is among the important museums of the world in its class has works from almost all periods and all types of Islamic art with its collection exceeding forty thousand works.

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WEB SITE : Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

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E-Mail : tiem@tiem.gov.tr
Phone : +90 212 518 1805
Fax : +90 212 518 1807

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TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM

Sultanahmet, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'22.1"N 28°58'29.7"E / 41.006126, 28.974911

Turkish And Islamic Arts Museum photo turkislamart_museum106.jpg

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The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (Turkish: Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi) is a museum located in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 1524, the building was formerly the palace of Damad İbrahim Pasha, who was the first grand vizier to Süleyman the Magnificent, and husband of the Sultan's sister.

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works and Arts, which contains a meaningful collection of Turkish/Islamic Works, welcomes its visitors in the historical Ibrahim Paşa Palace located in Sultanahmed Square after having moved there on May  22nd, 1983. At first, it was established as the Evkaf-ı İslamiye Museum (The Islamic Foundations Museum) in the Darüzziyafe (a soup kitchen during the 16th century) within the Süleymaniye Mosque Complex in 1914. After the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, it took the name “Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works and Arts”.

The museum has been moved to İbrahim Pasha Palace from the soup kitchen building in 1983. Ibrahim Pasha Palace, which is one of the most important samples of the 16th century Ottoman civil architecture samples is on the stages of the historical hippodrome, the history of which goes back to the Roman Period. This building, the precise construction reason and date are not known, has been presented to İbrahim Pasha by Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in 1520, who would be his grand vizier for 13 years.

İbrahim Pasha Palace, which is claimed to be bigger and more magnificent than Topkapı Palace by the history has been the stage of many weddings, feasts and celebrations as well as rebellions and turmoil and called with the name of İbrahim Pasha after the death of this person in 1536. It has been used by other grand viziers, and had functions such as barracks, embassy palace, register office, Janissary band house, sewing workshop and prison.

İBRAHİM PAŞA PALACE

The date of construction of the Ibrahim Pasha Palace is uncertain. Solakzade, a seventeenth century historian, notes that a palace was built here during the Sultan Bayezid II period (1481-1512). Palace documents record that Sultan Süleyman I repaired the Atmeydanı palace in 1521 for his grand-vizier and confidant Ibrahim Paşa, while archaeologist-historian Müller-Wiener claims that it was built atop the foundations of the hippodrome seats. Ibrahim Paşa was executed in 1536 and his assets reverted to the treasury's control.

Occupying a large part of the west side of the Hippodrome, but partly concealed by an ugly nineteenth-century building, are the remains of the vast palace of Ibrahim Paşa, built around 1520. Ibrahim Paşa was a Greek convert to Islam who became an intimate companion of Süleyman the Magnificent during the early years of his reign. In 1523, Ibrahim was appointed Grand Vezir and the following year he married Süleyman’s sister Hatice, at which time he was given this palace on the Hippodrome.

Some idea of the enormous wealth and influence which Ibrahim had at this time can be gained from even a casual view of the palace, the grandest private residence ever built in the Ottoman Empire, far greater in size than any of the buildings in Topkapı Sarayı itself. But the very magnitude of this wealth and power was the ultimate cause of Ibrahim’s ownfall.

The palace, which retained his name, became a government residence over the next two and a half centuries for a number grand-viziers (sadrazam), governor-generals (beylerbeyi), admirals (kaptanpaşa) and royal gun-bearers (silahdar) who had married into the royal family. A section of the palace housed the school and barracks of apprentice court pages (acemioğlanları) during this time.

Later in Süleyman’s reign, when he fell under the influence of his wife Roxelana, the Sultan was persuaded that Ibrahim must be eliminated, for he was taking on the airs of royalty. And so one night in the year 1536, after having dined alone with the Sultan, as he had so often in the years of their intimacy, Ibrahim retired to an adjacent room in the Saray and was there murdered while he slept.

Immediately afterwards all of Ibrahim’s wealth and possessions were confiscated by the state, including the palace on the Hippodrome. For a time, Ibrahim’s palace seems to have been used as a dormitory and school for the apprentice pages in the Saray. The great hall, that part of the palace which fronts on the Hippodrome, was in Ibrahim’s time the Audience Room of the Grand Vezir, and afterwards it was probably the High Court of Justice.

The registry at the Topkapı Palace show repairs by head architects Mimar Sinan (1492-1588), Hasan Ağa and Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa (d.1622), and more repairs were conducted after the fires in 1652, 1660, 1755 and 1808 and after the 1675 earthquake. In late eighteenth century, the official registry (defterhane) and the headquarters of the royal band (mehterhane) were located at the building no longer used as a vezirial palace.

The derelict palace was occupied by a mental hospital, a lionhouse, a textile workshop and squatters in the following century and parts of it were torn down in 1939 to clear the site for a modern court house. The restorations to convert the palace into a museum finally commenced in 1966 and lasted fifteen years. The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, originally founded in 1914, re-opened at the Ibrahim Pasa Palace in 1984 and is open to visitors at this location.

The vezirial palace, reported by travelers to be grander in scale than the royal palace of Topkapı, extended for about 140 meters along Atmeydanı or the Roman Hippodrome, varying from 50 to 75 meters in depth. It consisted of four courtyards of varying size and elevation, three of which were lined up along Atmeydanı, oriented southwest-northeast. Built of brick and stone, the Ibrahim Pasha palace is the only aristocratic residence remaining from the sixteenth century when Atmeydanı was surrounded by many such palaces built primarily of wood.

It hosted many royal celebrations, such as the circumcision ceremonies of Ottoman princes and marriages, beginning with the fifteen-day marriage of grand-vizier Ibrahim Pasha to Sultan Süleyman I's sister in 1524. Illustrated accounts of these events, such as the Book of Festivals (Surname) depicting the circumcision of Sultan Murad III's sons in 1582 and gravures by foreign travelers such as Melling in late eighteenth century, provide us with clues regarding the original appearance of the palace and its surroundings.

After passing through the entrance lobby, one enters the northeast corner of the great central courtyard; this has been restored very attractively, with marble paving around a garden and with a balcony overlooking the Hippodrome. Part of the north wing has been fitted out as an old-fashioned Istanbul coffee-house, an ideal place to relax before or after seeing the exhibits in the museum.

The entrance into the palace was through the first courtyard, a square court enclosed by the walls of the surrounding courtyards, opening out to Atmeydanı on the forth. From here, stairs led up to the large second courtyard on the left, where the state apartments were located and a passageway connected to the smaller third courtyard to the right, which also had its own gate on Atmeydanı.

The fourth courtyard was located behind the first and the third and may have been used to house the harem. The second, third and forth courtyards were enveloped by the walls of wide vaulted corridors on all or three sides, which carried rows of rooms above that looked onto the courtyard through a continuous gallery. A tall corridor placed between the second and forth courtyards with heavy gates on either side is thought to be the treasury.

Although three out of the four courtyards have survived to our day, the second courtyard, which houses the museum, is the only one that retains its original design. The Ottoman land registry, still in use today, was housed in a three-story nineteenth century structure built in the first courtyard and expanded to its larger building erected in front of the first and the third courtyards in 1908.

The third courtyard, obscured by the Land Registry building and cafés, houses the courthouse archives. The dilapidated forth courtyard was torn down hastily in 1939 to make room for a new courthouse, even though the project later, which spans the whole length of the palace, would have accommodated it. Rooms off the second and forth courtyards must have commanded great views in this direction, where the hill descends towards the Golden Horn across Çemberlitaş.

The second courtyard, or state apartments, was built on a terrace elevated on the ruins of the hippodrome seats. The terrace, about seven and a half meters higher than Atmeydanı, is retained by thick walls with buttresses and a deep vaulted gallery along Atmeydanı, which has the museum entrance. A continuous vaulted corridor envelops three sides of the courtyard, which opens out to the Atmeydanı with a wooden gazebo on the fourth side.

Entered from a single door on the side, the corridor is lit with large grilled windows placed in each bay. Above, the northeast and northwest wings have a series of rooms that are entered through a now englazed arched gallery that faces the courtyard. The rooms facing Atmeydanı are larger and covered with vaults, while all rooms are equipped with furnaces whose chimneys animate the roof. The upper floor of the southwest wing is occupied by the great hall (divanhane), which has a stone balcony (şahnişin) on Atmeydanı.

Before going through the galleries, one might pause to survey the structure of the palace. What one sees here is the main part of the original palace of Ibrahim Paşa. In addition to this there was another section of almost equal size adjoining the present structure to the north-west, apparently an enormous han-like edifice, which has vanished except for the wing nearest the Hippodrome.

The most important part of the present structure is the great hall, which takes up most of the upper level of the south wing on the side overlooking the Hippodrome; this would have been Ibrahim Paşa’s Hall of the Divan, and the two large rooms to its west would have been antechambers to this. The long western or inner side of the palace on the upper floor has at its rear a row of 13 cell-like cubicles opening onto a long corridor with a stone sofa overlooking the garden.

This corridor turns the corner to pass along the north wing, which is only half as long as the south wing, with five cells along the inner side and a sixth overlooking the courtyard. The southern end of the corridor here is connected with the coutyard by a stairway, the entrance below being through a foyer with a great round-arched entryway.

The lower level of the palace around the courtyard consists of a series of splendid vaults, supported by a single row of piers in the north and south wings, creating two aisles, while in the south wing there is a triple row of piers, one row engaged in the walls on the courtyard side, thus creating three aisles there. Some of these vaults are used to house the ethnographical collection of the museum, while the other exhibits are on the upper level of the palace.

Its wooden roof, which is attached with bowed braces to the courtyard façade, and the wooden roof of its balcony were built during the restoration based on sixteenth century miniatures depicting the palace. The great hall, larger than the corresponding audience hall at Topkapı, was the court of justice of the grandvizier. There is no trace left of the interior decoration of the state apartments which house museum exhibits today.

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WEB SITE : Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : tiem@tiem.gov.tr
Phone : +90 212 518 1805
Fax : +90 212 518 1807

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

SAIT FAİK ABASIYANIK MUSEUM

Burgazada, Adalar - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 40°52'51.8"N 29°04'02.6"E / 40.881048, 29.067380

Sait Faik Abasiyanik House Museum photo saitfaik_museum111.jpg

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Born in 1906 Adapazarı, Sait Faik Abasıyanık was educated at the Bursa Erkek Lisesi. He enrolled in the Turcology Department of Istanbul University in 1928, but went to Switzerland to study economics in 1930. He left school and lived for three years in Grenoble, France. He devoted his life to writing after 1934. He created a brand new language and brought new life to Turkish short story writing with his harsh but humanistic portrayals of laborers, fishermen, children, the unemployed and the poor.

Sait Faik Abasıyanık was an important figure in Turkish literature, and his sizable contribution of short stories and poems cannot be overlooked. Abasıyanık spent most of his time on Burgazada and was a great lover of the sea, a topic he frequently wrote about. To learn more about the English translations of his work, read our full review of the collection A Useless Man.

The Daruşşafaka Association, an NGO school for children who have lost one or more parent, was a personal interest of Abasıyanık, and upon his passing in 1954, he bequeathed all of his belongings to the school. Darüşşafaka in turn turned Abasıyanık’s home in Burgazada into an engaging museum that contains documents of both a professional and personal nature.

The Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum first opened in 1959, and was recently restored by Darüşşafaka and reopened in May 2013, exhibiting letters, photographs, and manuscripts, among some other of the writer’s belongings. The museum is open to the public free of charge, so regardless of whether you are familiar with Abasıyanık’s works or just looking to take a break from the city, do take the time to knock on the door of the great Turkish wordsmith and wander through his fascinating life.

Sait Faik Abasıyanık, the great writer who dedicated himself to Darüşşafaka's mission and bequeathed his assets and copyrights to his books to the Society, is a pioneer in modern Turkish story-writing. Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s museum house in Burgaz Island (Burgazada) where he lived and wrote many of his stories, was renewed and reopened for its visitors by Darüşşafaka Society.

Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum, exhibiting Sait Faik’s belongings, manuscripts, letters, photographs, and many other objects and documents which carry the traces of his memories, was opened to the public for the first time on August 22, 1959. The museum is maintained by Darüşşafaka Society since 1964, and is one of the most visited museum houses of Turkey since the day it was opened.

After the completion of restoration and conservation works which had been carried out since 2010 by Darüşşafaka, the museum was reopened to its visitors on May 11, 2013 with its brand new look, restored and renewed with a contemporary museology approach. The museum, which takes Sait Faik’s readers to a fascinating journey to his literary and spiritual world, is open to the public free of charge upon the writer’s bequest. We invite Sait Faik lovers and everyone who would like to discover his world, to Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum.

Sait Faik Abasıyanık, who is considered a landmark in Turkish literature with his contributions to contemporary story-writing, was born on November 18, 1906 in Adapazarı. He went to elementary school in Karamürsel and Adapazarı, and completed his high school education in Istanbul and Bursa. After studying for two years at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Literature, he travelled to several countries in Europe.

He stayed three years in Grenoble, France, which he loved and had a considerable effect on his writing and personality. Upon his father’s request, Sait Faik returned to Istanbul in 1934 and lived in the Rumeli apartment building on Rumeli Avenue of Şişli district, where his family had just moved in. After his father died, he spent his winters in Şişli and his summers with his mother at their house in Burgaz Island (Burgazada) which they had bought in 1938. He spent most of his time at this house after he became ill in 1945, until his death on May 11, 1954.

Sait Faik published his first short story “Uçurtmalar” (Kites) on December 9, 1929 in the Istanbul daily Milliyet. After returning home in 1934, he started publishing his short stories in Varlık, an important Turkish literary magazine. Beginning from this year, he devoted himself completely to writing short stories and he narrated the sea, nature, workers, children, poor people, unemployed and fishermen with a humanistic, sensitive, honest and modest way. His first collection of short stories, Semaver (Samovar) was published in 1936 by Remzi Publishing.

In 1939 Sarnıç (Reservoir), in 1940 Şahmerdan (Pile Driver), in 1948 Lüzumsuz Adam (The Futile Man), in 1950 Mahalle Kahvesi (The Neighborhood Coffeehouse), in 1951 Kumpanya (Company of Players), in 1952 Havuz Başı (By the Fountain), Son Kuşlar (Last Birds) and Birtakım İnsanlar (A Certain Kind of People), in 1953 Kayıp Aranıyor (Search for the Missing Person) and Şimdi Sevişme Vakti (Now’s the Time for Love), and in 1954 Alemdağ’da Var Bir Yılan (A Snake in Alemdağ) was published. In 1953, he was elected an honorary member of the International Mark Twain Society (USA) for his contributions to contemporary literature.

Sait Faik and Darüşşafaka
The paths of Darüşşafaka and Sait Faik crossed one year before his death at a literature matinee organized by Darüşşafaka High School in Fatih. He showed admiration for the children studying there and gave them special attention. After attending the matinee, Sait Faik wandered around the school, and when he returned home, he told his mother that he would like to bequeath all of his money to Darüşşafaka in order to provide children who had lost their fathers a chance to receive quality education.

His mother Makbule Abasıyanık respected his wish and left his assets and all the copyrights to his books to the Society with her bequest dated November 8, 1954, with the stipulation that his house at Burgazada be preserved as a museum and that an award in her son's memory be given each year. The Darüşşafaka Society faithfully embraces the terms of the bequest which was inherited in 1964, preserving the museum which was opened on August 22, 1959 and being responsible for its maintenance and renovation since 1964.

Darüşşafaka has also been organizing every year since 1964 one of the most significant literature contests in Turkey, “Sait Faik Story Award”, thereby commemorating the great writer on a nationwide scale. Turkish literature’s longest-standing story contest has been held in collaboration with “Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları” since 2012.

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WEB SITE : Sait Faik Abasıyanık Museum

MORE INFO & CONTACT
E-Mail : bilgi@saitfaikmuzesi.org
Phone : +90 216 381 2060

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.