Miniatürk

Miniaturk, Turkey's first miniature park, whose foundation was laid on 30 June 2001, was opened to visitors with a grand ceremony by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 2 May 2003. Established on a total area of 60 thousand square meters, Miniaturk includes 15 thousand square meters of model area, 40 thousand square meters of green and open space, 3 thousand 500 square meters of indoor area, 2.000 square meters of pools and waterways, and a parking lot for 500 vehicles. Thanks to project coordination carried out simultaneously, Miniaturk, completed in as short a time as 22 months, is the miniature city with the world's largest model area and completed in the shortest time.

At Miniaturk, where 1/25 scale models of selected works from Turkey and the Ottoman geography are displayed, a total of 120 permanent works are exhibited, including 57 works from Istanbul, 51 works from Anatolia, and 12 works from the Ottoman geography that today lies outside Turkey's borders. However, reserve areas were also created by taking later additions into account. The infrastructure was arranged with possible future additions in mind. Thus, in a sense, Miniaturk will continue to grow by setting an example for planned urbanization. The models were produced in a total of 13 workshops, 10 domestic and 3 abroad. In addition to the workshops, productions for Miniaturk were also carried out at the Revolving Fund Enterprises of Yıldız Technical University and Dokuz Eylül University. In the construction of the models, plastic-based material used in industry and suitable for outdoor conditions was used. Before the models were placed in their locations, they were kept in the Miniaturk Test Area and their suitability for outdoor conditions was tested once again.

In the park, where the traces of many cultures and civilizations have been brought together, from Ayasofya to Selimiye, from Rumeli Hisarı to Galata Kulesi, from Safranbolu Evleri to Sümeli (Sümela) Manastırı, and from Kubbet-üs Sahra to Nemrut Dağı Kalıntıları, works such as Artemis Tapınağı, Halikarnas Mozolesi, and Ecyad Kalesi, which are no longer in their original places today, have also been recreated. Care was taken to ensure that every civilization that ruled in Anatolia and its surroundings and left traces would be represented in Miniaturk. With Miniaturk, the traces of 3 thousand years of lived history, from Antiquity to Byzantium, from the Seljuks to the Ottomans, have been brought to the shore of the Haliç. The selection of the works to be included in Miniaturk was made by a committee under the consultancy of Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Haluk Dursun. In the selection, care was taken to ensure that the works were suitable to be modeled, and the works represented in Miniaturk with their models are those that reflect the technology, art, and culture to which each belongs, and that were preserved, repaired, and kept alive in a geography that has witnessed heavy invasions, wars, and destruction for thousands of years, without any civilization attempting to destroy them simply because earlier ones had built them.

Places to Visit in Istanbul Address: Sütlüce Mahallesi, İmrahor Caddesi 34445 Sütlüce - Beyoğlu / İstanbul