İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri

Istanbul Archaeological Museums are an example of the first museology efforts in our country. The traces of efforts to collect historical artifacts in the Ottoman Empire go back to the period of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. However, the systematic and institutional emergence of museology took place with the establishment of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum in 1869 under the name ‘Müze-i Hümayun’.

Müze-i Hümayun, consisting of archaeological artifacts collected in Aya İrini Church until that date, forms the basis of today’s Istanbul Archaeological Museums. When Aya İrini Church proved insufficient, a search for a new place began. Due to financial insufficiency, instead of constructing a new building, “Çinili Köşk” was converted into a museum.

With the appointment of Osman Hamdi Bey, the son of Grand Vizier Edhem Paşa, as museum director in 1881, Turkish museology made significant progress. A new museum building became necessary for the large number of works obtained as a result of excavations carried out at Nemrud Dağı, the Myrina, Kyme and Ailoia Necropolises, and the Lagina Hekate Temple.

The Istanbul Archaeological Museums building is one of the rare structures in the world built as a museum building. Opened to visitors in 1891 and one of the finest and most magnificent examples of Neo-Classical architecture in Istanbul, the Archaeology Museum has an extremely striking architecture with the splendor of its facade. Its two entrances on the long facade, reached by wide staircases, with four columns each and pediments, have the appearance of a temple. The Ottoman inscription in kufic style on the pediment reads 'Asar-ı Atika Müzesi' (Museum of Antiquities). The Tuğra above this inscription belongs to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II, who had the classical building constructed.

Source: Istanbul Archaeological Museums

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