500. Yıl Vakfi Türk Musevileri Müzesi

As the first and only museum of its kind in Turkey, the 500. Yıl Vakfı Türk Musevileri Müzesi opened on 25 November 2001 in the building of the Zülfaris Synagogue, which has no longer been in active service since 1985. The name of the street is read as Zülfaris on old city maps. This word is the colloquial abbreviation of the Ottoman Turkish “zülf-ü arus,” meaning “bride’s forelock.” The synagogue, whose original name was “Kal Kadoş Galata,” was also known among the public by this name. This building, whose existence was known in 1671, probably rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century on foundations remaining from the Genoese and serving as a synagogue until around 1985, was restored by the 500. Yıl Vakfı within the framework of the “500. Yıl Kutlama Etkinlikleri” and converted into a museum.

The entrance courtyard of the museum, which is built on three floors, is adorned with the work “Yükselen Ateş” by the sculptor Nadia Arditti, erected in memory of the Turkish Jewish soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the defense of the homeland during World War I, the Çanakkale Front and the War of Independence. In the main hall on the first floor, reached by the stairs where brides once went up on their fathers’ arms and came down on their husbands’ arms; the history of Turkish Jews, interaction in religious objects and social life, participation in different areas of communal life, the first printing press in the Ottoman Empire, the history of the Turkish Jewish Press, the renunciation of Article 42 of the Treaty of Lausanne, the German and Austrian scientists invited to our country as early as 1933 by the great leader Atatürk and who escaped Nazi oppression and continued their academic lives at our universities, the “Turkish Schindlers,” Turkish diplomats who saved hundreds of Jews from death in the Nazi-occupied cities where they served during World War II, the corner of honor and much more information are presented with objects, panels, graphics and maps. In the illuminated octagon corresponding to the projection of the main dome, the history of Zülfaris and some excerpts from important events that took place in the synagogue are exhibited. In the upper gallery, which was reserved for women’s worship during the period when it functioned as a synagogue, the right wing features scenes of people, (men, women, couples, children, families and picnics) while the left wing includes panels exhibiting the 400th year and 500th year celebration events, the introduction of the Ashkenazi community, and the stories of the Haydarpaşa Hemdat İsrael Synagogue and the Manisa Moris Şinasi Children’s Hospital, each a separate document of admonition.

In the ground floor hall arranged as the ethnography section, in addition to maternity-birth and circumcision, dowry, and wedding compositions, bride and groom photographs in chronological order from 1860 to the 1960s refresh nostalgic memories within the function of a time tunnel, and examples on different clothes, wedding dresses, amulets, jewelry and similar subjects are also included in this section...

When leaving the museum, on the panel on the right wall toward the street gate; it is possible to read summaries of the statements of Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, Turgut Özal, Süleyman Demirel and Mesut Yılmaz regarding Turkish Jews.

Places to Visit in Istanbul Address: Karaköy Meydanı, Perçemli Sok. (Selanik Pasajı Arkası) Karaköy / İstanbul