During my travels in Turkey, I have come to the conclusion that local residents are not avid appreciators of art museums. Therefore, when visiting such exhibition spaces, tourists have a good chance of not queuing at the ticket counters and waiting for the opportunity to photograph their favorite works.
Today, I will tell you about the Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture, which is located in the modern public space called Galataport.
How to Get to the Museum
Galataport is located near the main attractions of the city — Istiklal Street, Galata Tower, and Dolmabahçe Palace. You can reach here by tram line T1. The nearest stop is called Tophane.
Entrance to the Galataport area is free. A ticket to the museum for visitors costs 300 lira (as of March 2024).
A Bit of History
The Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture has its roots back to Ottoman times. The decision to create a collection was made simultaneously with the establishment of the country's first School of Fine Arts. However, the formation of the museum's collection began only in the first decades of the 20th century.
The initial collection of paintings was housed within the walls of the academy itself. Later, the exhibition was moved to the apartments of the heir to the throne in Dolmabahçe Palace. Initially, about 500 items were presented here. Today, the museum boasts around 12,000 works of art.
Since 2012, the museum's exhibition has been located on the premises of one of the former customs warehouses in the Tophane district. Later, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out here, and the modern exhibition halls welcomed their first guests in December 2021.
The museum building looks quite unusual: the exhibition halls with exhibits are rather conservative in their design, resembling many similar rooms in other museums. On the contrary, the public spaces of the exhibition, such as the main staircase, attract attention with their modern solutions.
If you look at the museum building from the street, you will see several protruding volumes, which also house exhibition halls. The external design of such spaces resembles huge containers. This is perhaps a reference to the fact that these were once warehouse areas.
The Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture is not the only exhibition space in Galataport. Next to it stands the building of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum. I will tell you about it in a separate article.
Have a nice trip!
