A country’s museums are among the clearest indicators of its relationship with its own past. Museums are not simply buildings in which old objects accumulate: they reflect how a society understands its history, which periods it embraces, and which layers of civilization shape its identity. Read from this perspective, the history of institutional museums in Türkiye tells not only the story of collections, but also that of an entire state redefining itself.

This article traces approximately 175 years of development, from the earliest arms and antiquities stores in Hagia Irene to the nineteenth-century Imperial Museum, the Republic’s Hittite Museum, the expansion of private museums in the 1980s, and today’s digitally enhanced institutions, attracting more than 60 million visits annually.

A Preliminary Beginning: From Collecting to the Museum

The tradition of gathering valuable objects in Turkish lands naturally predates the museum as an institution. During the Seljuk period, madrasas and religious complexes held scientific and artistic collections. At the Ottoman court, diplomatic gifts, war booty, sacred relics, portraits of sultans and calligraphy accumulated in the treasuries of Topkapı Palace for centuries. None of these collections, however, corresponded to a museum in the modern sense: they were uncatalogued holdings, closed to the public and not assembled for exhibition.

Following the conquest of Istanbul, Hagia Irene served as a store for arms and equipment both used by the Ottomans and captured in war. After repairs in 1730, objects began to be displayed under the name Darü’l-Esliha, or Arsenal. Foreign travellers could see the display with permission, but it remained closed to the public. It was not quite a museum, yet it helped lay the conceptual foundations.

The Birth of Modern Museums: Fethi Ahmet Pasha and the Imperial Museum

The person who initiated the establishment of the museum as an institution in Türkiye was Fethi Ahmet Pasha, Marshal of the Imperial Arsenal. Taking office in 1845, he began collecting antiquities in Hagia Irene. The collection was divided into two sections: ancient weapons (Mecmua-ı Esliha-ı Atika) and antiquities (Mecmua-ı Asar-ı Atika). French archaeologist Albert Dumont prepared its first catalogue.

Institutionalization truly arrived in 1869. Through Education Minister Saffet Pasha’s efforts, the collection became the Müze-i Hümâyûn, or Imperial Museum. The first Antiquities Regulation also took effect that year. This was the Ottoman state’s first legislation on antiquities and a founding document of heritage protection in Türkiye. Circulars instructed provincial authorities to send historical objects to Istanbul without damaging them.

The Imperial Museum’s first director was Edward Goold, a British-born teacher at Galatasaray High School. A period of three foreign directors followed: Goold was succeeded by Anton Dethier and, as the last foreign director, again Philipp Anton Dethier. Dethier’s knowledge of history, philology, archaeology and art contributed to revisions of the regulation and the museum’s move to the Tiled Pavilion in 1880. Nevertheless, many objects continued to leave the country during this period.

A Revolution: The Osman Hamdi Bey Period, 1881–1910

Osman Hamdi Bey, regarded as the true founder of Turkish museology, was appointed director of the Imperial Museum on 11 September 1881 following Dethier’s death. Under his leadership, Ottoman museum practice moved beyond its formative stage and became a scientific institution.

His innovations still form the backbone of museum practice in Türkiye.

First, he initiated scientific excavations. From 1883, he directed work at Mount Nemrut in Adıyaman, Lagina in Muğla, and Myrina and Kyme in Manisa. His internationally renowned excavation was the Royal Necropolis at Sidon in Lebanon in 1887–1888. Eleven sarcophagi, including the celebrated Alexander Sarcophagus and Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women, were transported to Istanbul by ship.

Second, he commissioned a new museum building for these finds. When the Tiled Pavilion became too small, he asked architect Alexandre Vallaury to design the building now known as the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. Türkiye’s first purpose-built museum, it opened to visitors in 1891. A library, photography laboratory and model workshop were subsequently added.

The third advance was legal. Drawing on his legal education, Osman Hamdi Bey revised the Antiquities Regulation in 1884, prohibiting the export of antiquities of historical and artistic value found within Ottoman territory. He also introduced strict excavation rules.

Perhaps his most symbolic moment occurred during Kaiser Wilhelm II’s visit to Istanbul. Admiring the Alexander Sarcophagus, Wilhelm said: “Give me the sarcophagus so I can take it to Berlin. You cannot preserve it here; we can protect it better.” Osman Hamdi Bey’s response entered history: “You can take the sarcophagus only over my dead body.”

An Islamic Art section was established in 1889, followed by museums in Konya in 1902 and Bursa in 1904. Modern museums were no longer confined to Istanbul: they were spreading across Anatolia.

Halil Edhem Bey and the Transition

After Osman Hamdi Bey’s death in 1910, his brother Halil Edhem Bey succeeded him. While continuing his brother’s work, he paid particular attention to museums in Anatolia. In 1913, the Museum of Islamic Endowments was founded in the soup kitchen of the Süleymaniye complex. Renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts during the Republic, it would move to the İbrahim Pasha Palace in Sultanahmet in 1983. This period also saw the institution officially named the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in 1914 and the establishment of Istanbul’s Museum of Oriental Antiquities in 1925.

The Military Museum was established after the Second Constitutional Era began in 1908. The Naval Museum, founded in 1897 as the Müzehane or Directorate of the Naval Museum, was another important institution contributing to the diversification of collections.

The Republic’s Museum Vision: A Museum Amid the Sound of Artillery

One of the most remarkable decisions in the history of museums in the Republic of Türkiye was taken before the war had ended. During the Battle of Sakarya, 23 August–13 September 1921, with artillery audible in Ankara, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ordered the establishment of a Hittite Museum in the capital. This was more than a museum decision: it sent the occupying powers a message that a nation was emerging, with its own museum and a claim to both the past and future of these lands.

The Antiquities Museum opened in Akkale on 1 October 1921. The only museum established during the War of Independence, it formed the basis of today’s Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. Through the voluntary efforts of Education Minister Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, Culture Director Mübarek Galip Bey and the museum’s first director Halil Nuri Yurdakul, Akkale Tower, formerly a municipal store, was emptied and converted into a museum.

Following the proclamation of the Republic, museum policy became a comprehensive programme:

The architectural symbol of this vision was the Ankara Ethnography Museum, designed by Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu: the first purpose-built museum of the Republican period. Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica created the equestrian Atatürk statue in front of it in 1927, and the museum opened in 1930 with objects collected from the public. After Atatürk’s death in 1938, it served as his temporary resting place for approximately fifteen years, from 21 November 1938 to 10 November 1953.

When the Hittite Museum became too small, Culture Director Hamit Zübeyr Koşay proposed to Education Minister Saffet Arıkan that Mahmut Pasha Bedesten and Kurşunlu Han be restored as a museum. Restoration began in 1939, and Professors Hans Gustav Güterbock and Hans Henning von der Osten started installing Hittite objects there. In 1968 it adopted its present name, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. In 1997 it became the first Turkish museum to receive the European Museum Forum’s European Museum of the Year Award. Queen Fabiola of Belgium presented the award to director İlhan Temizsoy.

At Atatürk’s instruction, the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture opened in September 1937 in the Crown Prince’s Apartments of Dolmabahçe Palace, becoming Türkiye’s first museum of painting and sculpture.

The Transformation of Administration

The central administration of museums is an institutional legacy carried from the Ottoman Empire into the Republic. Initially managed by the Directorate-General of the Imperial Museum within the Ministry of Education, museum activities remained under the Ministry of National Education after the Republic’s foundation. This changed in 1971, when museums came under the Ministry of Culture and, at different times thereafter, the Ministry of National Education and Culture or today’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Türkiye’s membership of UNESCO and ICOM, the International Council of Museums, in the 1950s was a critical step towards integrating international standards. During the 1960s, museum openings accelerated in almost every city, with new buildings based on standardized plans. By the 1980s, a nationwide network attentive to conservation, storage and lighting had emerged.

After 1980: The Rise of Private Museums

The early 1980s introduced a new paradigm: private museums. Until then, museum work had largely been a state responsibility. Businesses, foundations and families transforming their collections into institutional museums represented a new cultural practice.

The Sadberk Hanım Museum opened on 14 October 1980 at the Azaryan waterfront mansion in Büyükdere, Sarıyer, under the Vehbi Koç Foundation. It entered history as Türkiye’s first private museum. Based on the personal collection of Vehbi Koç’s wife Sadberk Koç, it included traditional clothing, embroidery, silver bearing imperial monograms and porcelain. Following the death of distinguished collector Hüseyin Kocabaş, his collection joined the museum. The neighbouring mansion was purchased in 1983 to display these objects and opened in 1988 as the Sevgi Gönül Building. The project received a Europa Nostra Award that year. Its collection has grown from 3,000 objects at its foundation to nearly 20,000 today.

Opened in 1994, the Rahmi M. Koç Museum became Türkiye’s first modern museum devoted to the history of transport, industry and communications. Located in a historic Golden Horn shipyard in Hasköy, it is known as an early Turkish example of the “living museum” approach.

The 2000s brought a boom in private museums. The Sakıp Sabancı Museum, affiliated with Sabancı University, opened at the historic Atlı Köşk in Emirgan in 2002. Alongside Ottoman calligraphy and painting, major international exhibitions featuring Picasso (2005), Rodin (2006), Genghis Khan (2007), Salvador Dalí (2008), Anish Kapoor (2013) and Joan Miró (2014) placed Türkiye on the global art map.

In 2004, Istanbul Modern opened in Karaköy as Türkiye’s first museum of modern and contemporary art, later moving to a new Renzo Piano-designed building at Galataport. The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation’s Pera Museum opened in Tepebaşı in 2005. Meanwhile, private capital and foundations began establishing high-quality museums in many other Turkish cities.

This transformation showed that museums could grow through civil society’s initiative as well as through the state.

Twenty-First-Century Museums: Digital, Thematic and a New Generation

Museums opened in Türkiye over the last twenty years have moved well beyond the conventional archaeology–ethnography model. The Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum stands out as the world’s largest mosaic museum, while the Hatay Archaeology Museum, Şanlıurfa Museum with its emphasis on Göbekli Tepe, Troy Museum, Mersin Museum and Adana Archaeology Museum were designed around contemporary approaches. They share a thematic focus, integrate digital content such as virtual tours and reconstructions, provide educational workshops and emphasize experience, seeking to turn passive viewers into active participants.

Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, built around his novel, is a rare international example of literature becoming a museum. It won the European Museum Forum’s European Museum of the Year Award in 2014. Thematic institutions including the METU Science and Technology Museum (2001), Istanbul Toy Museum, Pera Museum, MSGSÜ Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture and Erimtan Archaeology and Art Museum have diversified Türkiye’s museum landscape.

Today’s Museum Landscape in Numbers

The Turkish Statistical Institute’s 2024 cultural heritage statistics provide a useful picture:

Leading attractions included Konya’s Mevlana Museum (2.6 million), Ephesus (2.6 million), Pamukkale–Hierapolis (2.4 million) and Göreme Open-Air Museum (1.1 million).

The picture is clear: with more than 60 million annual visits, over 600 museums and internationally awarded institutions, Türkiye has become a significant player in the global museum arena.

Conclusion: Returning to Hagia Irene a Century Later

As Fethi Ahmet Pasha looked at the weapons and antiquities gathered in the dim interior of Hagia Irene in 1845, he could hardly have imagined a network welcoming 60 million visitors 175 years later. Institutional museum development in Türkiye is not a linear success story. It is a winding path of losses, looting, legal gaps, the strains of modernization and powerful individual commitments—from Osman Hamdi Bey and Halil Edhem to Atatürk.

Four major turning points stand out: the institutional beginnings of the nineteenth century, the Republic’s national museum initiative, the private museum revolution of the 1980s, and the digital, thematic and experience-led museums of the twenty-first century. Each period built on its predecessor, sometimes challenging it and sometimes completing it.

Museums in today’s Türkiye fulfil a role that cannot be measured solely in tourism revenue or visitor numbers. Repatriation, combating forgeries, digital archiving, children’s education and financing archaeological excavations are all contemporary museum functions. The arms store at Hagia Irene still stands as part of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. Perhaps the real achievement lies precisely here: the uninterrupted passing on of that modest collection begun centuries ago.

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