The Pera Museum, Istanbul

The Pera Museum, which opened its doors in early June 2005, is the first step of a comprehensive cultural endeavor that the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation has launched at this distinguished venue in the city for the purpose of providing cultural service on a variety of levels. An historical structure which was originally constructed in 1893 by the architect Achille Manoussos in Tepebaşı (İstanbul's most prestigious district in those days) and which was, until rather recently, known as the Bristol Hotel, was completely renovated to serve as a museum and cultural center for the project. Transformed into a fully-equipped modern museum, this venerable building is now serving the people of İstanbul once again.

The first and second floors of the Pera Museum house three permanent collections belonging to the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, with the Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül Gallery on the second floor. The third, fourth, and fifth floors are devoted to multipurpose exhibition spaces. There is an auditorium and lobby in the basement and on the ground floor are the reception desk and Perakende - Artshop and a cafe.

A large part of the first of the two museum floors above the ground floor displays choice examples from the foundation's collection of Anatolian Weights and Measures for the benefit of those who are in love with history and archaeology. Made from many different materials using many different techniques, these objects show the development of the devices used to weigh and measure in Anatolia since the earliest times. In another wing on the same floor is the foundation's collection of Kütahya Tiles and Ceramics, whose strikingly beautiful pieces seek to shed new light on an area of creativity in our cultural history that is not very well known.

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's collection of Orientalist art consists of more than three hundred paintings. This rich collection brings together important works by European artists inspired by the Ottoman world from the 17th century to the early 19th. This collection, which presents a vast visual panorama of the last two centuries of the Ottoman Empire, includes works by Osman Hamdi, regarded by art historians as the genre's only "native Orientalist" and of course his most famous painting The Tortoise Trainer. Many paintings from the private collections of the late Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül have also entered the foundation's permanent collection. It is planned to exhibit the collection in the Sevgi and Erdoğan Gönül Gallery dedicated to their name in a series of long-term thematic exhibitions. The first of these, which opened in early June 2005, is called "Portraits from the Empire" and consists of portraits of sultans, princes, and other members of the Ottoman imperial family as well as of foreign ambassadors together with other "portraits" in the general sense, showing people from many different periods and walks of life.

In addition to its function as a private museum in which to display the collection of the family, the Pera Museum is also intended to provide the people of İstanbul with a broad range of cultural services as a modern cultural center located in a vibrant part of the city and equipped with multipurpose exhibition spaces, an auditorium and lobby, and activity spaces for visitors.

Contact Info:

Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.141
34443 Tepebaşı - Beyoğlu - İstanbul
Tel. + 90 212 334 99 00
Fax. + 90 212 245 95 11
info@peramuzesi.org.tr

Visiting Hours:

Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 - 19.00
Sunday 12.00 - 18.00
The museum is closed on Monday.


Text/Photograph © http://www.pm.org.tr/index_en.html

Istanbul Naval Museum

The Istanbul Naval Museum is the most comprehensive museum of its kind in Turkey. With its extraordinarily rich and varied collection, numbering some 20,000 pieces, it is among the major museums of the world. The Naval Museum operates under the Commander of the Navy and was the first military museum founded in Turkey.

Initial situation of the museumWith orders of the Naval Commander-in-Chief Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Pasha and the support of the Commander of the Imperial Naval Arsenal Admiral Arif Hikmet Pasha, the Naval Museum was founded in 1897 by Commander Süleyman NUTKİ in the Imperial Naval Arsenal (now Taşkızak Shipyard in Hasköy, İstanbul), as the Museum and Library Administration Office.

Ali Sami BOYARAt first the museum opened its doors mainly as a repository of unclassified objects. However, in 1914 the Minister of the Navy Cemal Pasha, as he had realized with all other aspects of the Navy, renovated both the museum and its administration when he appointed Lieutenant Ali Sami BOYAR Director. A maritime artist, BOYAR subsequently reorganized the museum collections scientifically, established a ship-model workshop for building models and half-models of Turkish ships, and a workshop to manufacture human figures for museum displays, all integral steps in the development of the museum to its present status.

At the beginning of World War II, the collections were moved to Anatolia for safekeeping. After the war, the museum collections were returned to İstanbul in 1946, this time to a more suitable building complex of the Dolmabahçe Mosque. Following two years of preparation by the Museum Director Haluk ŞEHSUVAROĞLU, the new museum was opened to the public on 27 September 1948.

Complex of the Dolmabahçe Mosque with the widening of Dolmabahçe Avenue, it was necessary to relocate the museum once again. It was moved a short distance in 1961 to its current location in Beşiktaş, next to the tomb and monument of Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha (Barbarossa).

Address
Hayrettin İskelesi Sok.80690 Beşiktaş/İstanbul - Türkiye
Phone +90 212 327 43 45
Fax +90 212 236 68 93
E-mail NavalMuseumTurk@Superonline.com


Photograph © Turkish Naval Museum Istanbul. http://www.dzkk.tsk.mil.tr/muze/English/Ana_Sayfa.htm

“Armorial from the Reign of Sultan Abdülhamit (1876-1909)”
Armorial bearing the "El Ghazi" monogram of Sultan Abdülhamit carved in relief on a raised, red-brown oval surface. The monogram is encircled by a gilt carved-rope design tied into a bow knot at the top.Dimensions : 92x83 cm

“Chart of the Persian Gulf to Baghdad”Printed in color by the Naval Academy in 1865. Drawn by the schoolmaster Ali Bey of the War Academy, the chart includes the monogram of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876) and is made to an Ottoman scale. Dimensions: 55 x 134 cm.

Military and Maritime Museum in Istanbul

This is one of the leading museums of its kind in the world. The military museum and culture center was reopened at its present building in 1993 with a very successful and contemporary exhibition concept. The former military academy, where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was also a student, was renovated and various additions were made. Today in 22 rooms about nine thousand pieces are exhibited, out of a total collection of fifty thousand objects.

On the ground floor, the display of bows and arrows in the first room is followed by sections containing the weapons and other regalia of the cavalry, daggers and lancets, and sections devoted to Selim I, Mehmet the Conqueror, the conquest of Istanbul, weaponry from the early Islamic, Iranian, Caucasian, European . and Turkish periods. This floor also houses a unique collection of helmets and armor, as well as the sections allocated to firearms and tents. On the upper floor there are rooms where objects from World War I, the Battle of Gallipoli, and the War of Independence, and uniforms from more recent times are displayed. There is also an Ataturk room. The Janissary Band gives concerts in the museum.

Adres: Askeri Müze ve Kültür Sitesi Komutanlığı Harbiye- Şişli / İSTANBUL
Tel : 0 212 2332720
Fax: 0 212 2968618
http://www.tsk.mil.tr/askerimuze/askeri_muze.htm


Photograph © Dick Osseman. http://www.pbase.com/dosseman

Museum of Classical Divan Literature - Galata Mevlevi Lodge

The Galata Mevlevi Lodge (mevlevihane) or as it is also known the Kulekapı Mevlevi Lodge which is now serving as a museum, is one of the institutions which reflect the culture of the era in the best possible way. The Mevlevi Lodges which for centuries combined scholarship with music, had a great influence on the Turkish culture. A great number of those people who came together in a Mevlevi Lodge environment were educated in various areas of fine arts and their names were remembered for a long time as far as science and scholarship was concerned. The Mevlevi Lodge which is located at the top of the steep street going down to Yüksekkaldırım is the oldest Mevlevi Lodge of İstanbul. It was built in 1491, on the hunting grounds of İskender Pasha who was a governor - general during the times of Sultan Bayezid. Its first master was Mehmet Mehmed Sema-i Çelebi. The building was struck by fire during the reign of Sultan Mustafa III. (1766) but was replaced by the existing Mevlevi Lodge by the same Sultan. In later years, the building underwent repairs during the reigns of Sultans Selim III, Mahmud II and Abdüllmecid. The institution which carried out its activities until 1925 was once more restored between the years 1967 - 1972. The Mevlevi Lodge which was built as a complex contained rooms and spaces for pray chanting, dervish cells, the quarters of the master (şeyh), special prayer (namaz) area for the Sultan, the section for the female members, library, fountain for the public, clock room, kitchen, mausoleums and an enclosed graveyard.


Semahane(Ritual Prayer Hall)On the enterence door of this wood structured section there is the restoration statement of Sultan Abdülmecid dated 1853. The building has an octagonal plan and a good sample of the baroque style of the 18th century. In this section Turkish musical instruments and works related to the Mevlevi culture are exhibited. In the upper section which is divided with wooden grills, the poems (divan) of the Classical Ottoman poets and manuscripts belonging to Şeyh Galib, İsmail Ankaravi, Esrar and Fasih Dedes and the poetess Leyla Hanım who were trained and educated at the Mevlevi Lodge are kept in chronological order. The quarters of the master (şeyh) and the special praying area for the Sultan are upstairs. Dervish CellsIt is constructed with stone and consists of rooms in a row.

Mausoleums

Şeyh Galib Mausoleum; It was built by Halet Said Efendi at the beginning of the 19th century. It has a square plan. Mehmed Ruhi, Hüseyin, İsa Selim, Şarih-, İsmail Ankaravi who first annotated the Mesnevi and Şeyh Galib Efendi are buried here.
Halet Said Efendi Mausoleum; It was built at the same time as the other mausoleum. Has a square plan. Inside, Şeyh Kudretullah, Ataullah Efendi, Halet Said Efendi and Emine Esma Hanım who is the wife of Ubeydullah Efendi are burried.

Fountain and the Clock RoomThey are located to the right of the entrance. The masonary structure was built in early 19th century.

LibraryIt was built by Halet Said Efendi. It is on the top floor of the special prayer place and contains 3455 volumes.

Treasury (Graveyard)
Those who functioned as masters (şeyh) at the Mevlevi Lodge, their spouses, the “kudum” and “ney” playing musicians and poets who had “divans” (volume of collected poems) are burried here. The graves of Humbaracı Ahmed Pasha, İbrahim Müteeferrika who set up the first printing press in Turkey, the composer Vardakosta Seyyid Ahmet Ağa, Nayi Osman Dede, and the family members of Tepedelenli Ali Pasha are also here. The tomb stones are significant for their inscriptions and decorations.

Address: Galipdede Caddesi, No:15, TünelOperating days and hours: Closed Mondays / 09.30-17.00

Copyright Notice: Rebuplic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Photograph © Suat Öneren (Ritual Prayer Hall). http://www.fotokritik.com

Photograph © H. Turay Yüksel (Dervishes). http://www.fotokritik.com/

Turkish Foundation Calligraphy Art Museum , Istanbul/Turkey

Turkish Foundation Calligraphy Art Museum which is presently active in Beyazıt Medresse in Beyazıt Square was originally opened under the name of Turkish Calligraphic Arts Museum in Sultan Selim Medresse in 1968.The museum which was relocated in 1984 to where it is now, calligraphy works of many famous calligraphers and calligrapher sultans, sheets, sultan monograms and Korans arranged according to type are on display.

Address: Beyazıt Square 34490, Beyazıt – Istanbul
Phone: +90 212 527 58 51
Open daily except Mondays and Sundays , 09:00-12:00 / 13:00-16:00


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