25 specialized museums in Istanbul (Turkey) You Have to Visit: Our Recommendations
Join us on a journey to uncover Istanbul (Turkey) ‘s best-kept secrets with our list of 25 specialized museums. Whether you’re looking to explore 25 amazing specialized museums or discover the most famous and best 25 specialized museums in Istanbul (Turkey) , we’ve got you covered. Let’s explore Istanbul (Turkey) with our ultimate guide to 25 of the best specialized museums, or uncover Istanbul (Turkey) ‘s hidden specialized museums with 25 must-visit places. Get inspired and start planning your next adventure with our comprehensive list of the best destinations in Istanbul (Turkey) .
Information about Istanbul (Turkey)
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and the second largest city in the world in terms of population, and an economic, tourist and cultural capital located in the Marmara region in the northwest of the country. Historically known as Byzantium, Constantinople, Astana and Islambul. And Istanbul occupied the capital of a number of countries and empires throughout its long history, by virtue of its distinguished central geographical location, as it was the capital of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and therefore during your wandering in it you will find many wonderful historical monuments left by those civilizations. This city is frequented by tourists from various Arab and international countries for its magnificence, as you will find everything you need to spend a beautiful time, there are resorts, there are amazing natural areas, there are shopping centers, many wonderful archaeological areas, and many amazing beaches.
A list of the best Specialized museums in Istanbul
Don’t waste your time sifting through endless reviews and recommendations – let our team do the work for you. Our list of the best specialized museums in Istanbul (Turkey) is carefully crafted to include only the most highly-rated and well-regarded options based on visitor feedback.
1- Yildiz Palace Museum
Yildiz Palace Museum – Yildiz Palace was opened as a museum on April 8, 1994, and it consists of a large gallery with a length of 90 meters. The museum is a close-up of what life was like in Istanbul in the 19th century, thanks to the multitude of artifacts and ornate rooms.
Place address: Yıldız, 34349 Beşiktaş/İstanbul, Turkey
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2- Vodafone Park
Vodafone Park – Vodafone Park is considered the first smart stadium in Turkey, as it has a smart infrastructure unlike many other stadiums in the country, as the broadcasting system and mobile applications in it work interactively with the fans, and it was designed with the aim of meeting the needs of about 50 thousand visitors, as it can Fans can catch up on important highlights of the match from more than 700 large interactive screens and 2,200 in-seat screens. Vodafone Park was established as a multi-purpose city complex that would serve Istanbul not only as a stadium for the Besiktas club, but also as an entertainment center, a music arena, a living area and a fashion center. International competitions, concerts by famous artists and fashion shows by world-renowned designers are also held in it. It also houses the Besiktas Museum. The sports club, in which hundreds of sports collectibles, shirts, medals, trophies, photos and videos depicting the glorious history of Besiktas Club are displayed.
Place address: Vişnezade, Kadırgalar Cd. No:1, 34357 Beşiktaş/İstanbul, Turkey
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3- Turkey İş Bank Museum
Turkey İş Bank Museum – The Bank of Turkey Museum was opened in 2007 AD in an attempt to reflect the country’s economic culture in previous periods, and during the preparation process for the museum, documents, photographs, films and rich holdings accumulated throughout Turkey since 1924 AD were collected, restored and taken under protection. Today, the museum has a permanent exhibition on the first floor featuring documents and photographs reflecting social and economic life from the country’s rich archives. Banking instruments such as typewriters and calculators from different periods, promotional materials and commercial advertisements are displayed on the first floor of the museum.
Place address: Hobyar, Bankacılar Sk. No:2, 34112 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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4- National Palaces Beykoz Glass and Crystal Museum
National Palaces Beykoz Glass and Crystal Museum – The Beykoz Museum of Glass and Crystal was established in Istanbul during the Ottoman period and was the most important glass factory at that time. The area of the museum is about 360 acres, and it was distinguished by a distinctive and modern design. The building, which bears the architectural features of the nineteenth century, is an architectural structure based on The repetition of similar spaces surrounding the courtyard in a certain order, and its façades are movable with circular arch openings in the basement, and it provides unique exhibition spaces with its exquisite construction influenced by the West and masonry, and the development of Turkish glass art and European glass is presented in 12 different sections.
Place address: Merkez, Mehmet Yavuz Cd. No:115, 34820 Beykoz/İstanbul, Turkey
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5- Istanbul Aviation Museum
Istanbul Aviation Museum – The Istanbul Aviation Museum, also known as the Turkish Air Force Museum, is a military aviation museum owned and operated by the Turkish Air Force. At the end of World War I, the presence of some German aircraft and some other aircraft in the hangars – the oldest from 1912 – led the Air Force Inspectorate to decide to establish an aviation museum, and began collecting booty aircraft that had been captured from the enemy. During the War of Independence, these planes were brought to Kartal Maltepe to protect them from damage, however some of the planes sustained serious damage during transportation.
Place address: Yeşilköy Mahallesi,, Eski Havaalanı Caddesi,, 34149 Bakırköy/İstanbul, Turkey
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6- Topkapi Palace Museum
Topkapi Palace Museum – Sultans, princes and their servants lived in the beautiful Topkapi Palace in the 15th and 19th centuries during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. As the palace was built for the first time in 1453 AD by Muhammad Al-Fateh. A visit to this grand palace, including viewing the treasury full of jewels and stunning décor, gives guests a glimpse into the life of the sultans and princes of that time period. And not only that, as the Palace Museum displays an exceptional collection of Islamic relics, such as the sword of the Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, and other exhibits that made it one of the famous world heritage sites.
Place address: Cankurtaran, Topkapi Palace Museum, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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7- Galata Mevlevi House Museum
Galata Mevlevi House Museum – The Mevlevi Khan Galata or Mevlevi Tekke was built in 1491 and was the first Mevlevi house in Istanbul. The caravanserai ceased functioning as a dervish lodge in 1925, and was opened as a museum in 1975. The building underwent a major renovation between 2005 and 2009, and now serves as a museum for the Mevlevi Sufi sect of Islam. The Khan Galata Mevlevi Museum is a landmark of great importance in Istanbul, as it provides an insight into Turkey that you will not find anywhere else, by providing information about the Mevlevi culture, their music, and their traditions, and therefore it is worth including in any city tour.
Place address: Şahkulu, Galip Dede Cd. No:15, 34420 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
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8- Turbes Museum
Turbes Museum – The Cemetery Museum was established in Istanbul on February 15, 1978 to carry out cemetery services under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It includes about 122 tombs from several different regions in Istanbul, including tombs belonging to well-known historical figures such as Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan Ayyub, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, the Sultan’s harem and others. Most of these tombs were designed and built by the chief architects of the Ottoman Empire. The museum also includes a collection of unique historical pieces such as the curtains of the Kaaba, the Qur’an, Arabic calligraphy paintings of the Ottoman sultans, sacred relics such as the beard of the Prophet Muhammad, and the personal belongings of religious leaders.
Place address: Cankurtaran Mah, Gülhane parkı İçi No 35/3, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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9- Topkapı Palace Harem
Topkapı Palace Harem – The Sultan’s harem rooms are the most interesting part of the Topkapi Palace. It was the place where the sultans lived with their families in private, and it was the abode of the Ottoman family members and upper-class harem women for centuries, and it also functioned as a school with its own rules and hierarchy. The Imperial Harem of Topkapi Palace is very important in terms of architecture and its representation of styles belonging to the period from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Place address: Harem İçi Sultanahmet Topkapı Sarayı, Cankurtaran, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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10- Basilica Cistern
Basilica Cistern – The Basilica Cistern, located near the Hagia Sophia Museum, is one of the most charming buildings in all of Istanbul. This place is a large underground water reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 100,000 tons of water. By visiting the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul from the inside, you can enjoy the wonderful and amazing art of Byzantine sculpture through dozens of huge columns designed and carved with precision, art and mastery, numbering approximately 336 columns, two of which are in the shape of Medusa heads, according to legend, which is one of the Greek myths. , as it was used to protect this great building. You can also enjoy seeing wonderful and colorful groups of fish that swim below your feet in a reasonable level of water. The Basilica Cistern includes a wonderful café to serve refreshing drinks and delicious snacks, whether after or during the visit.
Place address: Alemdar, Basilica Cistern, Yerebatan Cd. 1/3, 34110 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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11- Pelit Chocolate Museum
Pelit Chocolate Museum – All the exhibits of this museum are made of chocolate. The artifacts and sculptures are designed by the best skilled in this field, such as the Hagia Sophia Mosque, the Galata Tower, and other well-known Turkish monuments. The pieces are kept in a suitable environment with constant temperatures, to ensure that they do not melt. The museum aims to introduce the history of chocolate, how it is made and the best types, and of course delicious samples are distributed to visitors to taste chocolate and fall in love with it.
Place address: Koza Mahallesi 1678 Sk. No:19 Sanayi Mahallesi Evren Sanayi Sitesi Akbatı A.V.M. Arkası, Sanayi, 34538 Esenyurt/İstanbul, Turkey
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12- Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam
Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam – Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam was opened in 2008 with a concept prepared by Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin; Historian of Islamic Sciences, in which a collection of works, devices, and tools invented and developed by Islamic scholars between the ninth and sixteenth centuries is displayed. And optics, and geography, and cinema.
Place address: Cankurtaran Mah, Gülhane Parkı, Taya Hatun Sk No:8A, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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13- Tuyap Fair
Tuyap Fair – Tuyap Fair or Tuyap Convention Center is a meeting point for international trade fairs in Istanbul, the cradle of civilizations, which offers many business opportunities today and tomorrow as well. Here, exhibitors and visitors from many countries around the world benefit from services of national and international standards supported by a well-established infrastructure in the context of more than 50 exhibitions and activities. Every year this global platform hosts 14,000 exhibitors from about 60 countries and nearly 2 million visitors from 70 countries. nation.
Place address: Cumhuriyet Mah Eski Cumhuriyet, Cumhuriyet, Hadımköy Yolu Cd No:9 D:1, 34500 Büyükçekmece/İstanbul, Turkey
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14- Madame Tussauds Istanbul
Madame Tussauds Istanbul – In the Wax Museum in Istanbul, or the so-called Madame Tussauds Museum, you will find a group of wax statues of famous singers, actors, and soccer players around the world, and you can visit it and wander among these distinctive statues and take many memorial photos with the existing characters, where you will find Spider-Man, Mona Lisa, and singer Madonna , Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, in addition to the player David Beckham, famous Ottoman figures, Jackie Chan, the cartoon character Shrek, and many other historical figures and famous personalities that adults and children would like to see alike.
Place address: Hüseyinağa, Grand Pera, İstiklal Cd. no: 56 D:58, 34440 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
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15- Istanbul Airport Museum
Istanbul Airport Museum – Istanbul Airport opens new horizons in Turkey once again with the opening of the Istanbul Airport Museum, which was put at the service of travelers to introduce citizens from all over the world to Turkish culture. The Istanbul Airport Museum currently displays 316 works from 29 museums, and opened its doors with the exhibition “Turkey’s Treasures: Faces of the Throne”, which was held on an area of 1,000 square meters. The museum awaits its visitors on the international departures floor. It is the first of its kind in Turkey and one of the few worldwide.
Place address: Tayakadın, GTR365, İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı Terminal İstanbul Caddesi No:1, Tayakadın, Dış Hatlar Geliş, 34283 Arnavutköy/İstanbul, Turkey
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16- Museum of Illusions Istanbul
Museum of Illusions Istanbul – The Museum of Illusions in Istanbul, this fun museum for young and old, which amazes its visitors with its corners and rooms that make the memorial photos for visitors really special. The interactive museum provides a mixture of vision, perception and science, within its many interesting sections, including the mirror room, the paintings gallery, and deception rooms, in addition to to the convenience store.
Place address: Narmanlı Han İstiklal Cd. No:180 Beyoğlu, Asmalı Mescit, 34421 Han/İstanbul, Turkey
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17- Adam Mickiewicz Museum
Adam Mickiewicz Museum – The Adam Mickiewicz Museum is a historic house museum dedicated to the life of Adam Mickiewicz; The famous Polish poet, located in the Beyoglu district on the European side of Istanbul, in the house where the poet lived and died, who came to Turkey in September 1855 to help organize the Polish forces under the command of the Ottoman army. The house was renovated after a fire in 1870, and the museum was opened in 1955 with the help of the Museum of Literature in Warsaw. Today, the museum includes some of Adam Mickiewicz’s manuscripts, historical documents and paintings, and the crypt in which he was temporarily buried for one month is located in the basement of the museum.
Place address: Bostan, Tatlı Badem Sk. No:10, 34435 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
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18- LEGOLAND
LEGOLAND – This amusement park is one of the strangest and most famous amusement parks in Turkey, as it was called Legoland because everything in it is made of LEGO, in which visitors will find statues made of LEGO cubes for the most famous international monuments, as well as statues of real-size animals made entirely of LEGO. It is an amusement park for children, but adults will definitely enjoy seeing these beautiful statues. There are also jumping tracks in the amusement park, ball pools, and pools with Lego cubes in which children can make whatever figures they want.
Place address: LEGOLAND, Photo of Paşa, Forum Istanbul, No: 3 Kocatepe Mah. , 34045 İstanbul, Turkey
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19- Ataturk Museum
Ataturk Museum – Ataturk Museum is a historic house museum dedicated to the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk; The first president of the Republic of Turkey, located in the Sisli region on the European side of Istanbul in a three-storey house built in 1908, where Ataturk rented this house after his return from the Syrian front, and lived in it until May 16, 1919, and the house was purchased in the year 1928 by the Istanbul Municipality, and some of Ataturk’s personal belongings were stored in it and turned into a museum, and it was opened to visitors on June 15, 1942 as the Ataturk Museum, and today it includes Ataturk’s personal belongings such as clothes, historical documents, pictures, paintings, and others.
Place address: Meşrutiyet, Halaskargazi Cd. No:140, 34363 Şişli/İstanbul, Turkey
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20- Maritime Museum
Maritime Museum – The Maritime Museum in Istanbul is one of the largest maritime museums in the world. The museum is divided into two parts. The first part includes the personal belongings of the leader Ataturk. The second part includes a number of ships and boats. It also makes many exhibitions on an ongoing and organized basis. The museum contains about 20,000 marine vessels, and the entrance fee to the museum is very symbolic and suitable for everyone. It also provides many discounts and free tickets for students. The way to reach it is very easy through Besiktas station.
Place address: Sinanpaşa, Maritime Museum, Beşiktaş Cd. 6/1, 34353 Beşiktaş/İstanbul, Turkey
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21- The Museum of Innocence
The Museum of Innocence – The most wonderful and very distinctive museum in Istanbul, it was created by the Turkish writer and novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Orhan Pamuk. It is a small museum in Istanbul, consisting of meticulously prepared various equipment and exhibits, showing the memories and meanings of the elements of daily life described in a novel of the same name as the museum. If you are a fan of reading and novels, you can read the main titles of this novel before going to visit this museum.
Place address: The Museum of Innocence, Çukurcuma Caddesi, Dalgıç Çk. No:2, 34425 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
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22- Rahmi M Koc Museum
Rahmi M Koc Museum – Rahmi M Koç Museum is Turkey’s first major museum dedicated to the history of transportation, industry, and communications. It includes a collection of wonderful and unique artifacts in a wonderful building, which are prime examples of industrial archeology on the historic Golden Horn beach. This museum contains thousands of items of gramophone needles (old musical instruments), ships, planes, full-size cars, and others.
Place address: Piri Paşa, Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Hasköy Cd. No:5 D:No:5, 34445 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
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23- Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum
Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum – The Classic Car Museum, which is full of outstanding classics in the history of cars, and displays 70 vintage cars of indescribable beauty that attracts every car lover. This museum is a destination for classic car enthusiasts from around the world due to the beautiful and unique cars it contains. This museum was built on an area of 2 thousand square meters, and many visitors flock to it to see the history and culture here. Also, if you feel thirsty, you can go to the museum’s bar to quench your thirst with your favorite drink.
Place address: Ferahevler, Ural Ataman Classic Car Museum, Nuri Paşa Cd. No:107, 34457 Sarıyer/İstanbul, Turkey
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24- Borusan Contemporary
Borusan Contemporary – Here are art spaces, exhibitions, events, educational initiatives, and installations for contemporary art. These activities are defined by their special focus on mixed media arts, that is, artists working with time, light, technology, video, and software. Most of the programs are carried out in the Perili Köşk Hotel in Istanbul, in cooperation with Borusan Holding offices creating a unique atmosphere. The building includes galleries, office space, a café, an art shop, and outdoor terraces that provide you with stunning views of the Bosphorus.
Place address: Rumeli Hisarı, Borusan Contemporary, Balta Limanı Hisar Cd. No:5, 34470 Sarıyer/İstanbul, Turkey
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25- Yedikule Dungeons Museum
Yedikule Dungeons Museum – This historical place was built in Istanbul in the fifth century Theodosius, and the main objective of it was to be a welcome point for arrivals from Europe and other distant countries, and it was known in history as the “fortress of the seven towers”, and the old doors of this tower were very large and plated with gold, and this is what made it one One of the most expensive places built during that period, and it consisted of 4 towers until three more towers were added in the year 1543 AD by Muhammad Al-Fatih, and it is one of the places that are open daily, except for Sunday. And do not forget to take your camera to take the best memorial photos of this archaeological and historical place.
Place address: Yedikule, Yedikule Dungeons Museum, Yedikule Meydanı Sk. No:9, 34107 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
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Conclusion
We hope our guide has inspired you to explore the unique and fascinating region of Istanbul (Turkey) . From its stunning natural wonders to its rich cultural heritage, Istanbul (Turkey) is a destination that promises to leave you awe-inspired and enriched. We encourage you to take your time and immerse yourself in the local culture, learn about the history and traditions of the region, and connect with the people who call it home. Remember that every journey is a personal one, and your experience in Istanbul (Turkey) will be different from anyone else’s. So, don’t be afraid to follow your instincts, take a detour, and explore the unknown. As you journey through Istanbul (Turkey) , we invite you to embrace the unexpected and discover the hidden treasures that await. We hope that our guide has been a valuable resource in planning your trip, and we look forward to hearing about your travels. Safe travels, happy exploring, and until next time!