Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul
The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts occupies Ibrahim Pasha Palace on the western side of Sultanahmet Square. Its carpet collection reaches back to thirteenth-century Anatolian Seljuk weaving. You encounter two histories here: the history of objects gathered for preservation and the history of a palace adapted over centuries.
Located in Istanbul’s Fatih district, it was the first Turkish museum to cover Turkish and Islamic art collectively. The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums also identifies it as the last museum opened during the Ottoman Empire. Its beginnings therefore belong to a different setting from the palace you visit today.
The museum opened on 27 April 1914 in the imaret of the Süleymaniye complex. Its original name was Evkaf-ı İslamiye Müzesi. The move to Ibrahim Pasha Palace came in 1983, placing the collection in a building overlooking the historic At Meydanı area.
Why was the museum founded?
The collection grew from efforts to protect objects in mosques, dervish lodges and tombs. Carpets, manuscripts and architectural fragments were being stolen and taken abroad. Gathering these works into a museum was intended to prevent that loss. Preservation was therefore part of the institution’s purpose before its doors opened.
In 1924, the abolition of the Ministry of Pious Foundations brought an administrative change. The museum passed to the Ministry of Education and continued under the name Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi. Its institutional history connects the final Ottoman years with the Republic of Türkiye.
The collection extends beyond textiles. English Wikipedia reports more than 40,000 artworks, including carpets, wooden objects and stone works. That broader scope matters when you approach the museum through its carpets: weaving forms part of a larger collection of Turkish and Islamic art.
Ibrahim Pasha Palace: what stood here before the museum?
Ibrahim Pasha Palace rises above the tiers of the Roman-period hippodrome at At Meydanı. The building’s setting therefore reaches further back than its association with Ibrahim Pasha. The museum occupies a palace whose foundations belong to an older urban landscape.
A document dated 1521 in the Topkapı Palace Archive records alterations, enlargement and repairs to an existing mansion. It shows that the palace developed through the transformation of an earlier residence. The date marks documented building work, rather than the creation of an entirely new structure on an empty site.
Ibrahim Pasha’s wedding took place at his Sultanahmet palace in 1524. After his execution in 1536, the state confiscated the property. Sections were assigned to palace pages, grand viziers and other senior officials. The building’s association with its named owner was only one stage of its history.
The identification of the surviving structures is also debated. One interpretation considers the buildings on the square to be remains of Ibrahim Pasha Palace. Another associates them with the Çadır Mehterhânesi, Mehterhâne Kasrı and a possible caravanserai. That disagreement concerns how the surviving fabric should be understood.
Which carpets can you see in the collection?
The ministry’s digital exhibition records a collection of 1,700 carpets and kilims. Works gathered from Anatolian mosques and tombs between 1911 and 1914 contributed to that total. Donations and purchases also expanded the holdings. The textiles preserve a collecting history as well as a history of weaving.
The earliest major group includes thirteenth-century Anatolian Seljuk carpets. Ottoman carpet groups extend the collection into later periods. If you want to understand its range, these dates provide a useful starting point: the museum brings medieval Anatolian weaving into the same collection as later Ottoman production.
The official brochure lists fifteenth-century prayer rugs and carpets with animal figures. It also identifies Holbein- and Lotto-type Anatolian carpets dating from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. These categories give you specific terms to follow when reading about the collection.
Medallion and star Uşak carpets form further principal groups in the official brochure. Alongside the Seljuk examples, prayer rugs and animal carpets, they show why the collection cannot be reduced to a single carpet type. Its named groups span different dates and forms.
Two carpets worth knowing by inventory number
Inventory number 681 identifies a thirteenth-century Anatolian Seljuk carpet from Konya. Made from wool using the Gördes knot, it measures 519 × 294 centimetres. Its record supplies concrete information about material, technique, date and scale. Those details make it a useful object through which to approach the wider Seljuk collection.
The Konya carpet entered the collection on 31 March 1911. That was before the museum’s formal opening on 27 April 1914. Its accession connects one surviving textile directly to the collecting campaign that prepared the institution for public display.
Inventory number 468 identifies a sixteenth-century Holbein-type Bergama-Uşak carpet. It measures 170 × 292 centimetres. Compared with number 681, it offers another dated example with recorded dimensions. You can use these two objects to move from a general interest in carpets toward individual, documented works.
The Holbein label also needs care. Some carpets classified under this name appear in none of the painter’s pictures. The classification should therefore not be treated as proof that every carpet of that type was represented by the artist.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
In 1526, Ibrahim Pasha placed statues brought from the Budin campaign in front of his palace. This episode adds another kind of object to the building’s history. Long before the museum arrived in 1983, the palace frontage had already been used to display objects brought from elsewhere.
The year 1939 brought separate changes to the collection and the palace. Because of the Second World War, the museum’s objects were moved to Anatolia. They returned to Istanbul in 1949. The collection therefore spent a decade away from the city where the museum had opened.
Also in 1939, the palace’s fourth courtyard was completely demolished to make room for the courthouse. The loss belongs to the building’s own history, rather than the wartime movement of museum objects. Both events matter when reconstructing what survived and where the collection was kept.
Everyday life beyond the carpets
The ethnographic exhibition devoted to nineteenth-century Istanbul brings together objects associated with coffeehouses, mansions, a calligrapher’s room, baths and Karagöz culture. These subjects connect the museum to everyday activities. A coffeehouse provides a familiar point of entry if your interest begins with ordinary social life rather than carpet terminology.
Its subjects widen the visit from textiles to the settings in which people gathered, worked and bathed in nineteenth-century Istanbul.
Timeline
- Thirteenth century: Important Anatolian Seljuk carpets in the collection were woven.
- 1521: An archival document recorded alterations and repairs to the existing mansion.
- 1524: Ibrahim Pasha’s wedding took place at the palace.
- 1526: Statues brought from Budin were erected outside it.
- 1536: The state confiscated the palace after Ibrahim Pasha’s execution.
- 31 March 1911: Seljuk carpet number 681 entered the collection.
- 27 April 1914: The museum opened in the Süleymaniye imaret.
- 1924: It passed to the Ministry of Education.
- 1939: Objects moved to Anatolia; the palace’s fourth courtyard was demolished.
- 1949: The objects returned to Istanbul.
- 1983: The museum moved to Ibrahim Pasha Palace.
- 1984: It received the Council of Europe Museum of the Year competition’s Special Jury Prize.
- 2012–2014: Restoration and display work preceded reopening in the museum’s centenary year.
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts entrance fee and tickets
The DÖSİMM tariff checked on 25 October 2026 lists the foreign visitor ticket price as €17. The official museum page checked on the same date states that Müzekart is valid for citizens of the Republic of Türkiye. These are the dated admission details to use when planning your visit.
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts opening hours
The official museum page checked on 25 October 2026 gives opening hours of 09:00–18:30 every day. The ticket office closes at 17:30. Keep that earlier ticket-office deadline in mind when arranging an afternoon visit.
The official address is Binbirdirek Mahallesi, At Meydanı Sokak, No: 12, Sultanahmet, Istanbul. This places the museum in Ibrahim Pasha Palace on the western side of Sultanahmet Square, where it has operated since 1983.
Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum photos
The Turkish Wikipedia article’s image section includes photographs of the inner courtyard, carpet corridor and woodwork. It also shows an incense burner and bath clogs. These images offer a visual introduction to both the palace setting and objects beyond the carpet collection.
FAQ
Where is the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul?
The museum occupies Ibrahim Pasha Palace on the western side of Sultanahmet Square. Its official address is Binbirdirek Mahallesi, At Meydanı Sokak, No: 12, Sultanahmet, Istanbul.
What is the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts entrance fee?
The DÖSİMM tariff checked on 25 October 2026 lists admission for foreign visitors at €17. The official museum page states that Müzekart is valid for citizens of the Republic of Türkiye.
What are the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts opening hours?
The official museum page checked on 25 October 2026 lists daily opening hours of 09:00–18:30. The ticket office closes at 17:30.
Which carpets are in the museum?
The collection includes thirteenth-century Anatolian Seljuk carpets, fifteenth-century prayer rugs and animal carpets, Holbein- and Lotto-type carpets, and medallion and star Uşak carpets.
Sources
- Vikipedi — Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi tr.wikipedia.org
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums — Istanbul Museum Directorate kvmgm.ktb.gov.tr
- Müze.gov.tr — Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum muze.gov.tr
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — İbrâhim Paşa Sarayı islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- Wikipedia — Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts en.wikipedia.org
- KVMGM / Google Arts & Culture — Osmanlı Halı Sanatı artsandculture.google.com
- Ministry of Culture and Tourism — Museum Brochure muze.gov.tr
- Museum With No Frontiers — Carpet, Inventory 681 islamicart.museumwnf.org
- Museum With No Frontiers — Uşak Carpet, Bergama islamicart.museumwnf.org
- DÖSİMM — Museum and Archaeological Site Fees dosim.ktb.gov.tr
Image: Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum 01.jpg — Chapultepec, Public domain
