Archeological Museum
The building was constructed by the architect Vallaury through the efforts of the first scientific museum organizer of Turkey, Osman Hamdi Bey, and was opened to public in 1891. The museum displays objects from Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire and the many civilizations of Anatolia and nearby regions including ancient Egypt.
Open daily between 09:30-16:30 except Mondays.
Osman Hamdi Bey Yokusu, 34400 Gulhane.
Tel: (0212) 520 7740 / 520 7741

Asiyan Museum
This museum is the former residence of famous Turkish poet Tevfik Fikret (1867-1915) who constructed the building himself. In addition to an exhibit of the personal belongings of Tevfik, there is a room devoted to the poet Nigar Hanim and some of the belongings of Abdulhak Hamit.
Open daily between 09:00-16:00 except Sundays and Mondays.
Asiyan Yokusu, 80810 Bebek.
Tel: (0212) 263 69 86

Ataturk Museum
The museum, opened to the public in 1981, is located in Ataturk's Istanbul residence on Halaskargazi Caddesi in Sisli. On display are photographs of Ataturk from his birth until his death, as well as some of his clothes, personal belongings and paintings.
Open daily between 09:30-16:00 except Thursdays and Sundays.
Halaskargazi Caddesi No. 250, 80260 Sisli
Tel: (0212) 240 63 19

City Museum
The museum was first located in the Bayezit Municipal Library in the year 1939 until it was moved to the Fine Arts building of the Yildiz Palace complex in 1988. On display are paintings depicting the social life of the Ottoman period in Istanbul, calligraphy, textiles, 18th and 19th century porcelains made in the imperial workshops of Yildiz Palace, various glass objects, calligraphy equipment and other objects of daily life.
Closed Thursday.
Barbaros Bulvari, 80690 Besiktas
Tel: (0212) 258 5344

Binbirdirek Cistern (Binbirdirek Sarnici)
It's one of the oldest Byzantine cisterns of Istanbul; it was built by Philoxenus to the west of the Hippodrome as a huge water storage in the 4th century AD during the reign of Constantine the Great. The dimensions of the cistern are 64 x 56 meters with 15 meters of height and there were 224 original columns, out of which 212 of them survived until today. The brick arches and the roof surrounded by tick walls are supported by these columns. Binbirdirek in Turkish means "Thousand and one columns", referring probably to its many columns. During the Ottoman period it was used as a silk threads production atelier and unfortunately as a dump during the Republic period. It was opened to the public in 2002 after a long restoration period. Besides being a museum, today there are small shops, a restaurant and a cafeteria in the middle, the cistern is also used for special meetings during incentives and for small scale music concerts.
Open daily between 09:00-18:30
Sultanahmet
Tel: (0212) 518 10 01

Divan Literature Museum
The first dervish lodge in the city was built in 1492 and belongs to the Mevlevi order. The present wooden structure on the site dates from the late 18th century. It is situated in a large garden that includes a cemetery. Historical objects and literature of the order are displayed.
Closed Monday.
Galipdede Caddesi No. 15, 30850 Tunel
Tel: (0212) 245 41 41 and 243 50 45

Hagia Irini (Church of St. Irene)
One of the earliest churches of Constantinople, St. Irene served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia was built. The church took its contemporary shape at the beginning of the 4th century under Constantine. It is the only example of a Byzantine church in the city with its original atrium. The building stands in the outer courtyard of Topkapi Palace and was used as an armory by the Janissaries after the conquest of Istanbul. Today it serves mainly as a concert hall because of its excellent acoustics and impressive atmosphere. Closed Monday.
Topkapi Palace, 34400 Sultanahmet
Tel: (0212) 522 0989 / 522 1750

Hagia Sophia
Third on the site to bear the name, the existing Haghia Sophia ('Divine Wisdom') was dedicated on 26 December AD 537 by Emperor Justinian. He had come to power less than a century after the fall of Rome and was eager to prove his capital a worthy successor to imperial glory. Approached by a grand colonnaded avenue beginning at the city gates, Justinian's cathedral towered over all else and was topped by the largest dome ever constructed a record it held until the Romans reclaimed their pride just over a thousand years later with Michelangelo's dome for St Peter's (1590). In the meantime, Justinian's dome took on almost fabled status. It was of such thin material, wrote the chroniclers of old, that the hundreds of candles hung high within would cause it to glow at night like a great golden beacon, visible to ships far out on the Marmara Sea.
Adding to the wonder, the church served as a vast reliquary housing a pilgrim's delight of biblical treasures, including fragments of the True Cross, the Virgin's veils, the lance that pierced Jesus' side, St Thomas's doubting finger and a large assortment of other saintly limbs, skulls and clippings.
All of this was lost in 1204 when adventurers and freebooters on Western Christendom's Fourth Crusade, raised to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Lands, decided they would be equally content with a treasure-grabbing raid on the luxurious capital of their Eastern brethren. At Haghia Sophia they ripped the place apart, carrying off everything they could, and added insult to thievery by infamously placing a prostitute on the imperial throne.
Further destruction was narrowly avoided in 1453, when the Ottoman Turk armies, led by Mehmet II, breached the walls of Constantinople and put its Byzantine defenders to flight. Those taking refuge in the church were slaughtered, but the conquering sultan was supposed to have rounded on a looting soldier he found hacking at the marble floors, telling him: 'The gold is thine, the building mine.' Haghia Sophia was spared but it was lost to Christianity. The following Friday after the conquest it resounded to the chant, 'There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet,' as the church became a mosque.
To the basilica were added four minarets from which to deliver the Muslim call to prayer. The construction of these was staggered and only two are matching. In 1317 a series of unsightly buttresses was deemed necessary when the church seemed in danger of collapse. These aside, what you see today is essentially the church as it was in Justinian's time.
At the death of the Ottoman Empire, with plans afoot to partition Istanbul along national lines, both the Greeks (on behalf of the Eastern Church) and the Italians (on behalf of the Western Church) lobbied for Haghia Sophia to be handed over to them, and in Britain a St Sophia Redemption Committee was formed. The Ottoman government posted soldiers in the mosque with machine guns to thwart any attempt at a Christian coup. An expedient solution was effected by the leaders of the new Turkish republic in 1934, who deconsecrated the building and declared it a museum. It's an action that still evokes controversy, with Islamists periodically calling for its restoration as a mosque. Comparing the pristine state of neighbouring historical mosques with the shabby peeling state of Haghia Sophia, you have to wonder if they don't have a point.

Open daily between 09:00-19:30 except Mondays. Admission $11
Sultanahmet Meydani, 34400
Tel: (0212) 522 17 50 - 522 09 89

Kariye Museum
This museum was built as the Church of St. Savior in Chora by Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It took its contemporary shape in the 11th century. Logotet Theodoros Metochites produced the frescoes and mosaics, which today constitute one of the world's most important examples of early Byzantine pictorial art. The mosaics tell the story of the New Testament from the birth of the Virgin Mary to a magnificent scene showing the Resurrection of Christ. The building was turned into a mosque during the reign of Bayezit II. The surrounding neighborhood has many old Ottoman wooden houses.
Open daily between 09:30-16:30 except Wednesdays.
32240 Edirnekapi
Tel: 0212) 522 17 50 - 522 09 89

Oriental Museum
Located near the Archaeological Museum, this museum includes curious objects from the Pre-Islamic Arab world as well as the Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations.
Closed every afternoon and on Monday.
Osman Hamdi Bey Yokusu, Gulhane
Tel: (0212) 520 7740

Sadberk Hanim Museum
Founded by the Vehbi Koc Foundation in 1980 in the historical Azaryan residence in Buyukdere, this is the first private museum in Turkey. The collection contains objects ranging from the first civilizations in Anatolia beginning in 6000 B.C. to the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods.
Open daily between 10:00-17:00 except Wednesdays.
Piyasa Caddesi, No. 25, 80890 Buyukdere
Tel: (0212) 242 38 13 and 14

Tanzimat Museum
19th century documents and objects belonging to the Tanzimat period are displayed in this museum. It was first opened in the Ihlamur Mansion in 1952 and moved to its present location in 1983.
Open every day.
Gulhane Parki, 34400 Sirkeci
Tel: (0212) 512 6384

Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (Ibrahim Pasha Palace)
Ibrahim Pasha, who was the first counsellor of Suleyman the Magnificent, married Suleyman's sister as the sultan ascended the throne, thus occupying a very important place in the palace hierarchy. The palace bearing his name was built in the 16th century. After Ibrahim Pasha was strangled on the order of Hurrem Sultan, his properties were confiscated by the government. The palace was later used as a military barracks for new recruits. In the Republican era, after being restored and repaired, it was re-opened as a museum for Turkish and Islamic arts.
Open daily between 09:30-17:00 except Mondays.
At Meydani No. 46, 34410 Sultanahmet
Tel: (0212) 518 1805 / 518 180

Vedat Nedim Tor Museum
This museum is located in the Yapi Kredi Bank building in Galatasaray and contains a collection of coins, embroidered textiles, gold covered copper objects, calligraphy, rosaries, Karagoz figures and ethnographic works.
Closed Sunday.
Istiklal Caddesi No. 285, 80050 Beyoglu
Tel: (0212) 245 20 41 and 252 47 00

Yerebatan Cistern (Basilica Cistern)
Cities in ancient and medieval times were always in danger of siege. In a siege, the main problem was inadequate supply of food and water. The Roman and Byzantine emperors built huge cisterns to solve this problem.
The Yerebatan cistern, which was built by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, was called the basilica cistern because the "trade basilica" stood on the ground above. It can contain up to 80,000 cubic meters of water, covers an area of 140 x 70 meters and is supported by 336 columns. Two of the column heads are adorned with Medusa heads.
Open daily between 09:00-18:30
Yerebatan Caddesi No. 13, 34410 Sultanahmet
Tel: (0212) 522 12 59