Istanbul's other museums

Many visitors to Istanbul manage to make it to the Archeological Museums to gasp in wonder at the beautiful Alexander Sarcophagus and the recent finds from the Marmaray excavations that uncovered the city`s medieval port and an incredible cache of 35 wooden boats complete with their cargoes

    Istanbul`s other museums

Many visitors to Istanbul manage to make it to the Archeological Museums to gasp in wonder at the beautiful Alexander Sarcophagus and the recent finds from the Marmaray excavations that uncovered the city`s medieval port and an incredible cache of 35 wooden boats complete with their cargoes.

Others manage to squeeze in a trip to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts to admire the room-sized Usak carpets and the reminders of a nomadic way of life now gone the way of the camel trains or to the Rahmi Koç Museum, which is crammed full with reminders of past modes of transport. The Pera Museum does well at attracting visitors in part because of its popular temporary exhibitions as does the Sabanci Museum, up the Bosporus in Emirgan. A few brave souls also venture as far as Büyükdere on the Bosporus to visit the Sadberk Hanim Museum and its fine archeological and ethnographical collections.

But the city also plays host to a large number of smaller museums which receive pitifully few visitors especially from abroad. This is a shame because not only do some of them boast interesting collections and/or settings but most are also blissfully free of admission charges an important consideration in these recession-hit times. The following are just some of the possibilities. There are plenty of others -- for example, the Florence Nightingale Museum in Haydarpasa was closed for restoration at the time of writing but is due to reopen any day now.

Asiyan: If ever there was a delightful place to live, Asiyan (the Nest) must be it. Set on the hillside at Rumeli Hisari as you approach the castle from Bebek, it was the home of the poet and anti-government rebel Tevfik Fikret (1867-1915), who had been a professor of Turkish literature at nearby Robert College and who retired here to compose in peace and quiet. Later he was reburied in the garden after initial interment at Eyüp. The museum`s finest possession is a superb painting called “Sis” (Mist), which was painted by Abdülmecid Efendi, the last caliph, but took its inspiration from a Fikret poem that is reproduced beside it. The views across the Bosporus to Küçüksu Palace and the twin streams that used to form the Sweet Waters of Asia are nothing short of breathtaking. Admission free. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Museum of Humor and Cartoons: Housed in the late 16th-century Gazanfer Ag(a Medrese just in front of the Valens Aqueduct, this museum houses a collection of cartoons dating back to 1871. You might think they would be difficult to appreciate if you don`t read Turkish, but if you can remember that “baris” means peace and “savas” means war, that will go a long way to aid understanding. In any case many of them are obviously hilarious even without a word of Turkish. It`s almost worth popping in just to see the lovely rose garden at the heart of the medrese (theological school). Admission free. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Jewish Museum: Easy to miss in Meydani Perçemli Sokak, a narrow side street near the Karaköy entrance to the Tünel funicular. This small museum is housed inside the old Zülfaris Synagogue. The building itself is worth seeing because it was paid for by the wealthy Kamondo family in 1890 (who also paid for the nearby Kamondo Steps) and gives a good idea of what Istanbul`s synagogues looked liked at the end of the 19th century. The synagogue itself contains a history of the Jews in Istanbul as well as a collection of artifacts gathered from elsewhere. In the gallery you can find out more about the Kamondos while in the basement you can admire costumes worn at weddings and circumcision ceremonies. Admission: TL 5. Closed Saturday.

Toy Museum: Istanbul`s delightful Toy Museum is housed in Dr. Zeki Zeren Sokak, off Ömerpasa Caddesi, in the backstreets of Göztepe but well signposted from Bag(dat CaddesI You can hardly miss it once you get there since the lampposts outside come in the shape of giraffes and the courtyard contains outsize models of famous funny man Nasreddin Hoca on his donkey and of Kelog(lan, the rather less well-known bald boy of Turkish fairy stories. Author-owner Sunay Akin has assembled a collection of around 5,000 toys from all around the world, which are displayed on the three floors of a lovely wooden house whose toilets are housed in a replica submarine in the basement. Parents will love the café. Admission: TL 8. Closed Monday.

Türkiye Is Bankasi Museum: In the backstreets of busy Eminönü stands a fine late 19th-century building that started life as a post office but became a branch of Türkiye Is Bankasi. Today it houses an unexpectedly state-of-the-art museum which gives visitors a chance to admire its beautifully restored interior. The main displays on banking history are of fairly specialist interest, but children will love the basement, where you pass through huge metal doors and go inside the bank vaults. Here streams of numbers flow like water down the corridor and the private cashboxes are open-sided to let visitors peep in on what individuals valued highly enough to pay to protect. Admission free. Closed Monday.

Sirkeci Station Museum: Before rushing to board a train, it`s worth popping your head inside the small museum on the forecourt of the station which formed the terminus for the famous Orient Express from London and Paris. Here you`ll find photos and souvenirs from the days when travel was the preserve of those with big money and meals in the restaurant car were served on bone china. Admission free. Closed Sunday and Monday.

Orhan Kemal Museum: The 20th-century Turkish author Orhan Kemal`s book “The Idle Years” has just been republished in English, so now might be a good time to drop in on the museum in Akarsu Yokusu in Cihangir, which comes attached to a replica of the Ikbal Kahvesi, once a popular literary hangout in Nuruosmaniye near the Kapali Çarsi that has since been torn down. It contains a complete set of first editions of his books and a mock-up of the room in which he used to work as well as some interesting photographs of Kemal with other literary greats including Nazim Hikmet, with whom he spent time in prison in Bursa. Admission free. Open whenever the Ikbal`s doors are.

Rezan Has Museum: Those with a particular interest in local archeology may want to supplement a visit to the main archeological museum with a tour of this small but well presented museum of finds from the Neolithic to the Selçuk periods housed in the remains of an 11th-century cistern and a 17th-century hamam inside Kadir Has University in CibalI Admission free. Open daily. Bring your passport to gain entry.

PTT Museum: The contents of this museum may be of rather specialist interest (philatelists will love it), but the Büyük Postane in Sirkeci is a remarkable building designed by Vedat Tek, one of the masters of the First National school of architecture, and a visit to the small museum inside it gives you a chance to appreciate the wonderful stairwells and ceilings that were once designed for official buildings. Admission free. Closed Saturday and Sunday.

Ottoman Bank Museum: If you`ve already visited the Türkiye Is Bankasi Museum you may well feel that you`ve already overdosed on banking history. However, the building that houses the Ottoman Bank Museum on Voyvoda Caddesi (better known as Bankalar Caddesi) in Karaköy played an important role in keeping the Ottoman Empire financially afloat, so you may want to take a quick look at the museum in the basement. The upstairs gallery hosts a series of temporary exhibitions which rarely have anything to do with banking; to find out what`s on, see the Time Out Istanbul magazine. Admission free. Open daily.

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