The Pera Museum is a private art museum and gallery located in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, which was established in 2005 by the "Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation". Suna Kıraç

Koç family

The Koç family is a Turkish dynasty of business people founded by Vehbi Koç, one of the wealthiest self-made people in Turkey. His grandsons, the third generation of the Koç family, today run Turkey’s largest and prestigious group of companies....

 is the youngest daughter of the late Turkish tycoon Vehbi Koç

Vehbi Koç

Vehbi Koç , born in Çoraklı, Ankara, Ottoman Empire, was a Turkish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded the Koç Group, one of Turkey’s largest and most prestigious group of companies...

, and İnan Kıraç her husband. The collection is housed in the former Bristol Hotel, constructed 1893 in Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu by architect Achille Manoussos.

The permanent collection

The museum exhibits three permanent collections Anatolian Weights and Measures, Kütahya

Kütahya

Kütahya is a city in western Turkey with 212,444 inhabitants , lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kütahya Province, inhabited by some 517 804 people...

 tiles and ceramics, and Orientalist art. The Orientalist collection consists of more than three hundred paintings, including works by European artists inspired by the Ottoman world from the 17th to the early 19th century. Preeminent among the Orientalist collection is the work of Osman Hamdi Bey

Osman Hamdi Bey

Osman Hamdi Bey was an Ottoman statesman, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering Turkish painter. He was also an accomplished archaeologist, and is considered as the pioneer of the museum curator's profession in Turkey...

, who has been characterized by some art historians as the genre's only "native Orientalist"; featured is his most famous work, The Tortoise Trainer

The Tortoise Trainer

The Tortoise Trainer is a painting painted by Osman Hamdi Bey in 1906 and 1907 . In 2004 it was sold for $3.5M....

.

Other functions

In addition to exhibits, the Museum hosts a broad range of cultural events; facilities include multipurpose exhibition space, auditorium, and an activity spaces for visitors. The first floor houses both an art shop and café, with auditorium, lobby, and children's center in the basement.

Future facilities

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation commissioned architect Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...

 to design a new cultural complex on the location of the present-day TRT

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation

The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, also known as TRT , is the national public broadcaster of Turkey and was founded in 1964. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a sales tax on television and radio receivers...

 Tepebaşı headquarters (situated on the public square facing the Pera Museum and the nearby Hotel Pera Palace

Hotel Pera Palace

Pera Palace Hotel is an historic special category hotel and museum hotel located in the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 1892 for the purpose of hosting the passengers of the Orient Express and was named after the place where it is located...

). The proposed complex would be named the Suna Kıraç Cultural Center . Construction may commence once building permission rights are granted from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the High Council of Monuments, and TRT personnel and equipment are transferred to TRT facilities in Istanbul's Ortaköy

Ortaköy

Ortaköy is a neighbourhood, formerly a small village, within the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, located in the middle of the European bank of the Bosphorus....

 and Harbiye

Sisli

Şişli is one of 39 districts of Istanbul, Turkey. Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş to the east, Sarıyer to the north, Eyüp and Kağıthane to the west, and Beyoğlu to the south...

neighbourhoods.

Admission and location

Museum hours

• Tuesday - Saturday: 10.00 - 19.00
• Sunday: 12.00 - 18.00
• Closed on Mondays.

Admission:
Regular: 7 TRY, Groups: 5 TRY (10 or more), Discounted: 3 TRY (students over 12 years of age, teachers and visitors aged 60 and over)

• Free admission for children under 12, disabled visitors and one accompanying person.

Audio Guide
2 TRY (1 TRY for groups)

Address
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No. 141

34443 Tepebaşı - Beyoğlu - İstanbul, Turkey

Literature

• Pera Museum (ed.). Portraits from the Empire. Pera Museum Publications, 2005. 155 p. ISBN 975 9123 -02 - 9
• Pera Museum (ed.). Young Expansion. Pera Museum Publications, 2005. 163 p. ISBN 975 9123 -00-2