Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum in Istanbul is a national museum dedicated to Ottoman and broader Islamic art, housed in a historic Ottoman palace in the Sultanahmet area. Its collections focus on carpets, calligraphy, manuscripts, tiles and woodwork.

Visitors encounter large carpet and textile displays, galleries of Ottoman and Islamic calligraphy and illuminated manuscripts, and collections of ceramic tiles, woodwork and ethnographic objects. The palace building itself is part of the experience, with period rooms and architectural features framing the displays.

The museum collection was formed in the late Ottoman and early Republican periods and was placed in the former İbrahim Pasha Palace, a 16th-century Ottoman building, to create a national museum of Turkish and Islamic art. The site has served as a public museum throughout the 20th century and continues to be a central repository for related artifacts.

Situated in Sultanahmet, the museum stands near Sultanahmet Square in central Istanbul, within easy walking distance of Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

• Proximity to Sultanahmet landmarks: Located in Sultanahmet close to other major sites such as the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace, making it easy to include on a historical Istanbul walking route.

What to See #

• İbrahim Pasha Palace (building): The museum occupies the 16th-century palace built for the Ottoman statesman İbrahim Pasha, the building itself being a major element of the collection's context.
• Carpet and textile galleries: The carpet and textile displays include examples from several centuries and regions of Anatolia and the Islamic world, presented in dedicated gallery space.
• Manuscripts, calligraphy and tile displays: Halls dedicated to manuscripts, calligraphy and tile work present illuminated Qur'ans, calligraphic panels and ceramic tiles from Ottoman and earlier periods.