Best Alternative Museums in Istanbul
If you’ve been to Istanbul few times and visited all the tourist sites already, we are sure that you can find something for yourself from these alternative museums in Istanbul.
Istanbul Modern Museum
Even though the idea of providing a modern art museum to Istanbul started in 1987, the museum was opened in 2004 as the first museum of modern and contemporary art. Initially, the museum’s location is at Antrepo #4, a former customs warehouse in Karaköy Harbor. But because of the extensive harbor restoration, the museum moved to Asmalimescit temporarily. The museum gives an excellent opportunity to see, learn about, enjoy and appreciate art and observe its continual development in modern Turkey. The museum has its collection and temporary exhibition halls, photography gallery, video area, library, cinema, and educational activities. If you need to rest they also have a quality café and a store to buy some souvenirs.
Address: Asmalımescit Mahallesi Meşrutiyet Caddesi, No: 99 34430, Beyoğlu, Istanbul Turkey
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/YfPwZ3ghDpoVt5WYA
Web Site: https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en
Rahmi Koc Museum
If you are into industrial archeology and want to learn the process of communication and transportation history, this is the place for you. It was opened in the 18th century built Lengerhane (Anchorhouse) in 1994. Then the museum extended by adding Haskoy Dockyard.
Today, Rahmi M. Koç Museum holds 28,000 square meters full of artifacts like engineering objects, including road transport, train transport, navigation, aviation, living history, machinery, communication, scientific devices, models, and toys. You can also find large-scale objects such as a submarine, ferry boat, planes, and floating sheerlegs in the open air display area.Sakip Sabanci Museum
Address: Hasköy Cad. No: 5 Hasköy 34445 – İstanbul
Google Map: https://g.page/rahmikoc-muzesi?share
Web Site: http://www.rmk-museum.org.tr/istanbul/en/home-page
Pera Museum
The beautiful building of the museum was built in 1893 as Bristol Hotel. And the museum is opened in 2005 after the restoration of local architect Sinan Genim. The museum has three permanent collections, Orientalist Paintings, Anatolian Weights and Measures, and Kutahya Tiles and Ceramics. They also have international projects with international museums, art galleries, and foundations such as ate Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, St. Petersburg Russian State Museum, JP Morgan Chase Collection, New York School of Visual Arts, and the Maeght Foundation.
Address: Asmalı Mescit, Meşrutiyet Cd. No:65, 34430 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/kiAjupxZxNKv5vCP6
Web Site: http://www.peramuzesi.org.tr/
Sakıp Sabancı Museum
The Sabancı family bought this 100 years old building in 1951. Once Sakip Sabanci started to live here, the house turned into a museum already with his rich collection of calligraphy and paintings. The museum was opened in 2002. Today, the museum has a collection of calligraphy from the end of the 14th century until the 20th century and paintings of early Turkish painters and foreign painters who worked in Istanbul. You will love the 18th and 19th century furniture which was used by the family, as well.
Addres: Sakıp Sabancı Caddesi, 42 Emirgan 34467 İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/15C3HFhDgyTBjvc9A
Web Site: https://sakipsabancimuzesi.org/en
Arter
Arter was opened in 2010. But they moved to their new building, which is built by Grimshaw Architects, in 2019. The Arter Collection comprises more than 1,400 works by around 400 artists as of 2020 and brings together various contemporary expressions, positions and practices from all around the world. The collection includes works from the 1960s to the present, covering a broad variety of media ranging from painting, drawing, sculpture, print, photography, film, video, installation to sound, light and performance-based practices.
Address: Irmak Caddesi No: 13 Dolapdere Beyoğlu 34435 İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/KACmDQLy4gbcZFNx7
Web Site: https://www.arter.org.tr/en/home-page
Sadberk Hanım Müzesi
The museum opened its gate as the first private museum of Turkey, in 1980. With more than 18000 objects, starting from 6000BC until Modern Turkey, it is one of the important museums of Turkey. The Iznik (Nicaea) seramic collection is also one of the best in the world. You can easily spend more than half day in Sadberk Hanim Museum.
Address: Piyasa Caddesi No: 25/29 Büyükdere 34453 Sarıyer – İSTANBUL
Google Map: https://g.page/sadberkhanimmuzesi?share
Web Site: http://www.sadberkhanimmuzesi.org.tr/
Museum of Innocents
The Museum of Innocence is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk and a museum he has set up. While he was writing the novel, he also thought about how great an idea would be to establish a museum related to the book. So, few years after the book, he opened the museum, which later on was selected as the best museum in Europe. As you can imagine, the museum is related to the novel. But it is ok if you didn’t read the book, you would still enjoy the museum. But, of course, if you read the book and visiting the museum, you will live the book. The museum presents what the novel’s characters used, wore, heard, saw, collected, and dreamed of, all meticulously arranged in boxes and display cabinets.
Address: Firuzağa, Çukurcuma Caddesi, Dalgıç Çk. No:2, 34425 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/dSJ62HDNSApD2deu5
Web Site: http://www.masumiyetmuzesi.org/
Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum
If you like old cars, this is the place for you. There are more than 60 vehicles from the 1920s to the 1970s. You will also see a range of vintage motorcycles and a small selection of fire trucks, industrial and military vehicles. You might need 2 hours to enjoy this museum, and you can rest at the cafeteria, which is designed as a “diner” from 1950s America.
Address: Ferahevler, Nuri Paşa Cd. No:107, 34457 Sarıyer/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/D9xc1GZc8AhUWPHv9
Web Site: http://www.atamanmuseum.com/
The Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews
The Museum is opened in 2001 in Karakoy but in 2015 it moved in to Neva Shalom Synagouge which is the largest one in Istanbul. While you visit the museum you will vitness the 2600 years of Jewish history in Anatolia. The sections are the contributions of Turkish Jews to the social and state life of the country they live in; of sections presenting the history, the ethnography, The Midrash, where religious objects are exhibited, the traditions, the life cycle and the settlements.
On the other hand, since the museum is in a synagogue, if there is a religious ceremony or ritual, you are more than welcome to watch it.
Address: Bereketzade, Büyük Hendek Cd. No:39, 34421 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/UuqWRS53V8yHXHh1A
Web Site: http://www.muze500.com/
Dogancay Museum
The Dogançay Museum, Turkey’s first modern art museum, officially opened its doors to the public in 2004. It is housed in a historic 150-year-old five-story building located in the heart of the bustling Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. Burhan Dogançay is primarily known for a body of work that grew out of his fascination with urban walls. Urban walls have a special meaning for Dogançay: they serve as a testament to the passage of time, reflecting the social, political, and economic change. They also bear witness to the assault of the elements and the markings left by people. This, according to Dogançay, is what makes urban walls monuments to the human experience and his oeuvre an archive of our time. In the museum, you can see the reflection of his travels that he made to more than 100 countries, by paintings, graphics, Aubusson tapestries, sculptures, and photographs.
Address: Hüseyinağa, Balo Sk. No:42, 34435 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/JUHkyFTBXzvyHwmW9
Web Site: http://www.dogancaymuseum.org/
Salt / Ottoman Bank Museum
SALT is a cultural institution in public service producing research-based exhibitions, publications, web and digitization projects, and developing programs including screenings, conferences, and workshops in Istanbul and Ankara. But in their Galata branch in Istanbul, there is an exciting museum called Ottoman Bank Museum. You can walk into giant Chatwood safes, which were the best at that time, and see old Ottoman banknotes and bank records. To see the photos of the men and women who had accounts is the most exciting part of the museum. Because the pictures are from height and you can follow the fashion of early 1900s.
Address: Azapkapı, Bankalar Cd. No:11, 34420 Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/LNM1mYEK9Xr98L6D8
Web Site: http://saltonline.org/
