There are nearly 80 museums only in Istanbul city of Turkey which had served as the capital city of Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire.
TOPKAPI PALACE
Topkapı Palace whose construction was ordered by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1478 has been the official residence of the Ottoman Sultans and center of state administration for 380 years until the construction of Dolmabahce Palace during the reign of Sultan Abdulmecid. Topkapı Palace was opened to public visits on April 3, 1924.
The main gate of the museum is called Bab-ı Humayun or Imperial Gate. The Imperial Gate is the main entrance into the First Courtyard. On the left side of First Courtyard, Aya Irini (Hagia Eirene) Museum, Imperial Mint (Darphane-i Amire), imperial bakehouses and archeological museums are located.
The elongated palace kitchens on the right side of the Second Courtyard are a prominent feature of the palace. Some of the kitchens were first built in the 15th century at the time when the palace was constructed.
The Imperial Harem occupied one of the sections of the private apartments of the sultan; it contained more than 400 rooms. The harem was home to the sultan's mother, the Valide Sultan; the concubines and wives of the sultan; and the rest of his family, including children; and their servants.
The Gate of Felicity (Babussaade or Bab-us Saadet) is the entrance into the Inner Court (Enderun), also known as the Third Courtyard which is the heart of the palace, where the sultan spent his days outside the harem. It is a lush garden surrounded by the Hall of the Privy Chamber occupied by the palace officials, the treasury (which contains some of the most important treasures of the Ottoman age, including the Ottoman miniatures, the Sacred Trusts), the Harem and some pavilions, with the library of Ahmed III in the center.
The Imperial Treasury of Topkapi Palace is a vast collection of works of art, jewelry, heirlooms of sentimental value and money belonging to the Ottoman dynasty. Since the palace became a museum, the same rooms have been used to exhibit these treasures. Most of the objects in the Imperial Treasury consisted of gifts, spoils of war, or pieces produced by palace craftsmen.
The objects exhibited in the Imperial Treasury today are a representative selection of its contents, which mainly consist of jeweled objects made of gold and other precious materials. Among the many treasuries that are on exhibition in four adjoining rooms, the first room houses one the armours of Sultan Mustafa III, consisting of an iron coat of mail decorated with gold and encrusted with jewels, his gilded sword and shield and gilded stirrups.
The second room houses the Topkapı Dagger. The golden hilt is ornamented with three large emeralds, topped by a golden watch with an emerald lid. The golden sheath is covered with diamonds and enamel. The most eye-catching jewel in the third room is the Spoonmaker's Diamond, set in silver and surrounded in two ranks with 49 cut diamonds.
The throne of Sultan Mahmud I is the centerpiece of the fourth room. This golden throne in Indian style, decorated with pearls and emeralds, was a gift of the Persian ruler Nader Shah in the 18th century. Another exhibit shows the forearm and the hand of St. John the Baptist, set in a golden covering.
DOLMABAHCE PALACE
The Dolmabahce Palace in Besiktas district of Istanbul was built between 1843 and 1856. The Palace is of great importance because Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of Turkey, spent his last days in the palace. Ataturk died on November 10, 1938, in a bedroom that is now part of the museum.
The palace is composed of three parts; the Mabeyn-i Humayun (or Selamlik, the quarters reserved for the men), Muayede Salonu (the ceremonial halls) 
and the Harem-i Humayun (the Harem, the apartments of the family of the Sultan). The palace has an area of 45,000 square meters, and contains 285 rooms, 44 halls, 6 baths and 68 toilets.
The famous Crystal Staircase has the shape of a double horseshoe and is built of Baccarat crystal, brass and mahogany. The palace includes a large number of Hereke palace carpets. Also featured are 150-year-old bearskin rugs originally presented to the Sultan as a gift by the Tsar of Russia.
The world's largest Bohemian crystal chandelier is in the center hall. The chandelier has 750 lamps and weighs 4.5 tons. Dolmabahce has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world, and one of the great staircases has bannisters of Baccarat crystal.
AYASOFYA MUSEUM
Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand 
years, until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 A.D. on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.
Earthquakes in August 553 and on December 14, 557 caused cracks in the main dome. The main dome collapsed completely during an earthquake on May 7, 558, destroying the ambon, the altar and the ciborium over it. It was reconstructed but it collapsed twice in 10th and 14th centuries.
In 1453, Istanbul was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.
Imperial Gate mosaics located in the tympanum above the gate, were used only by the emperors when entering the church. Based on style analysis, it has been dated to the late 9th or early 10th century.
Southwestern entrance mosaics, situated in the tympanum of the southwestern entrance, date from 944. The Virgin sits on a throne without a back, her feet resting on a pedestal, embellished with precious stones. The Child Christ sits on her lap, giving His blessing and holding a scroll in His left hand. On her left side stands emperor Constantine in ceremonial attire, presenting a model of the city to Mary.
The Empress Zoe mosaics on the eastern wall of the southern gallery date from the 11th century. Christ Pantocrator, clad in the dark blue robe (as always the custom in Byzantine art), is seated in the middle against a golden background, giving His blessing with the right hand and holding the Bible in His left hand.
ISTANBUL ARCHEOLOGY MUSEUMS
The site of the museums actually belonged to the Topkapi Palace outer gardens. The museum was founded by decree as the Imperial Museum. When it opened to the public in 1891, it was the first one to feature Turkish art. The first curator was Osman Hamdi Bey, who was also the founder of the museum.
In the museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Balkans to Africa, from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.
Istanbul Archeology Museums consist of three museums. Those are Archeology Museum, the Museum of the Ancient Orient and Enameled Kiosk Museum.
THE MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT ORIENT
This is the first building to the left at the entrance of the Archeological Museum. Originally a school building, it was converted into a museum in 1917, and then modernized between 1963-1973. The artifacts brought here from Egypt and the Middle Eastern countries that were under Ottoman rule prior to World War I, and relics from ancient Anatolian civilizations comprise a unique and beautiful collection.
Two basalt neo-Hittite lions are placed at the entrance. The Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Anatolian sections are on the second floor. Some of the pieces on display are artifacts from the old and new Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations, the graves of the pharaohs and Arabic tomb stone, as well as Hatti-Hittite and Urartu relics. The museum has a very rich and rare collection of cuneiform inscriptions consisting of 70 thousand tablets.
ENAMELED KIOSK MUSEUM
The kiosk that has been made by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1472 is one of the oldest examples of Ottoman civil architecture in Istanbul.
The entrance facade of the kiosk is single-flat and the back facade is of two-storeyed. There is a marble porch of 14 columns in the entrance. The entrance exedra is decorated with mosaic enamels. Various chinaware and ceramics from the Seljuk and Ottoman period are displayed in the Kiosk that consists of 6 rooms and a middle saloon. There are approximately 2,000 works of art in the museum and its depots.
TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM
It is a museum located in Sultanahmet Square in Eminonu district of Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 1524, the building was formerly the palace of Ibrahim Pasha, who was the first grand vizier to Suleyman the Magnificent.
The collection includes notable examples of Islamic calligraphy, tiles, and rugs as well as ethnographic displays on various cultures in Turkey, particularly nomad groups. These displays recreate rooms or dwellings from different time periods and regions.
YILDIZ PALACE
Yildiz Palace is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Istanbul built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This is a complex of pavilions and gardens scattered over a large area of hills and valleys overlooking the Bosphorus and surrounded by high walls. This second largest palace in Istanbul is now separated into various sections, each serving a different purpose.
The different courtyards containing pavilions, chalets, pools, greenhouses, aviaries, workshops and servants' quarters were separated from each other by passageways and gates. There are two small and charming mosques situated outside the two main entrances.
The palace, which had been used as a War Academy for a long time, was later put under the supervision of the Culture Ministry in 1978 and the Yildiz Palace Directorate was opened. Initial efforts to convert the palace into a museum began in 1994. On January 6, 1994, the Palace Theatre and the restored Stage Arts Museum were opened. On April 8, 1994, the Yildiz Palace Museum was opened to the public.
This building, the restoration of which has been completed, and the Gedikli Cariyeler (Permanent Odalisque) building nearby became the Theatre and Stage Arts Museum. There is a section where original costumes are exhibited which is in one part of the theatre museum.
SAKIP SABANCI MUSEUM
Sabanci University's Sakip Sabanci Museum is located in Emirgan, at one of Istanbul's oldest settlements on the Bosphorus.
In 1927 Prince Mehmed Ali Hasan of the Hidiv family of Egypt commissioned the Italian architect Edouard De Nari to build the villa, now the museum's main building, and it was used as a summer house for many years by various members of the Hidiv family; for a short time it also served as the Montenegran Embassy.
After the mansion was purchased in 1950 by industrialist Haci Omer Sabanci from Prince Iffet, a member of the Hidiv family, it came to be known as "Atli Kosk" (The Horse Mansion) because of the statue of a horse (purchased in the same year) that was installed in the garden; the statue is the 1864 work of the French sculptor Louis Doumas.
With the annex of a modern gallery, the exhibition areas of the museum opened to visitors in 2002; with a further extension of the layout in 2005, the technical level of the museum reached international standards.
Today Sabancı University Sakip Sabanci Museum presents a versatile museological environment with its rich permanent collection, the comprehensive temporary exhibitions that it hosts, its conservation units, model educational programs and the various concerts, conferences and seminars held there.
The Sakip Sabanci Collection of Ottoman Calligraphy presents at a glance examples of 500 years of the art of Ottoman calligraphy. The Collection includes rare manuscript copies of the Holy Qur'an, individual inscriptions as well as assembled albums, panels, descriptions of the attributes of the Prophet, official documents such as decrees and grants of appointment, privilege and income, as well as tools used in the practice of this art. The Collection is displayed on the upper storey of the Atli Kosk mansion.
RAHMI KOC MUSEUM
The Rahmi M Koc Museum is the first major museum in Turkey dedicated to the history of Transport, Industry and Communications.
Housed in magnificent buildings - themselves prime examples of industrial archaeology - on the shore of the historic Golden Horn, the collection contains thousands of items from gramophone needles to full size ships and aircraft.
PERA MUSEUM
The Pera Museum is founded by the Suna and Inan Kirac Foundation. The collection is housed at an historical building which was originally constructed in 1893 by architect Achille Manoussos in Tepebasi. Up until 2005 the year of the museum's inauguration, this building served as Bristol Hotel. Kutahya tiles, Anatolian weights and measurements, and Oriental portraits painting Collections are the permanent exhibitions in the museum.
SADBERK HANIM MUSEUM
Founded by the Vehbi Koc Foundation in 1980 in the historical Azaryan residence along the Bosphorus, this museum is a beautiful three-story "yali" (old Ottoman house) and houses a rich collection of Anatolian-based works of art, antiques and relics.
SISLI ATATURK MUSEUM
The house where Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, lived and worked before the War of Independence during his stay in Istanbul between 1918 and 1919, originally was built in 1908 and was opened to the public in 1942. Restored in 1991 by the Municipality of Istanbul, the museum contains Ataturk's personal belongings, 
military uniforms and decorations, manuscripts, photographs and portraits done by the some of the leading painters of the period.
MILITARY MUSEUM
This is one of the leading museums of its kind in the world. The museum initially opened in Saint Irene Church. Later in 1950, it was moved to the First Army Headquarters building in Cumhuriyet Caddesi, Harbiye. A fine collection of historical weapons, uniforms and tools of various periods of the army are being exhibited. The highlights are the magnificent campaign tents and standards. Outside the museum, interesting Ottoman cannons and mortars, a rail gun, aircraft, helicopters are on display.
NAVAL MUSEUM
The museum is situated in Besiktas district. It was opened to public in 1960. It displays the uniforms of the Turkish sailors, models of Turkish naval vessels, and paintings, engravings and maps related to Turkish maritime history. Also the materials and souvenirs from the vessels used in the first years of Ottoman Empire and the Republic, pictures of some navy disasters and martyrs, wartime weapons such as hand-bombs, torpedo, fire gun and sketches of several fleet commanders are amongst the display. Sultans' row-boats are on display on its lower floor. In the courtyard of the museum, cannonballs of various sizes and a part of German Battleship which sunk in our coastline during Second World War are also displayed.
PRESS MUSEUM
The Press Museum was established in 1988 in an historical neo¬classical building which had been built in 1865 as the original building of the former Darulfunun, the first Ottoman university. This museum contains paintings of individuals who made important contributions to the development of the press in Turkey, as well as their personal belongings. There is also a collection of historical printing press.
BEYLERBEYI PALACE MUSEUM
The Beylerbeyi Palace, whose name is identified with the district, was constructed by the architect Agop and Sarkis Balyan under the edict of Sultan Abdulaziz between 1861 and 1865 in place of an outdated wooden coastal palace. Similar in style to the Dolmabahce Palace, this sumptuously furnished residence built of white marble served mainly as a summer house and lodging for visiting royalty from abroad.
One of the most striking points of the palace is that especially in the facade and internal decorations, Eastern and Turkish motives are employed in combination with the ornamental elements of the West. In the three-storey palace, there are 26 rooms and six halls. Pieces such as seats, ornaments, carpets and curtains in the palace have survived to date. One of the halls located in the middle of the palace is equipped with a pool. Again, on the back side, are a large pool, terraces and stables.
MEVLEVIHANE MUSEUM
The Galata Mevlevihanesi, or dervish convent, built in 1491, was one of the first Mevlevi dervish convents in Istanbul. It was opened as a museum in 1975. The Semahane (meeting house of the dervishes where the whirling ceremony is performed) and adjacent rooms house a collection of manuscripts of the works of Seyh Galib Dede and of other Mevlevi Sufi poets, as well as samples of calligraphy and Mevlevi memorabilia.
MUSEUM OF BASILICA CISTERN
Located on the left side of the Haghia Sophia-Gulhane Park road in Sultanahmet, the Basilica Cistern is also known as Yerebatan place. It was built in approximately 540 A.D. by the Emperor Justinianos I of the Byzantine Empire. A big square was dug underneath the ground and it was supported by 300 columns. At the time, it was the most important water storage area and provided water to the whole city. The cistern was cleaned and renovated between 1985-1988 by the Istanbul Municipality. Today, it is open to visitors. Its exotic and unbelievable appearance makes the cistern an irresistible attraction.
MUSEUM OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ISLAM
The Museum has technological and scientific works by Islamic scholars and is run by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA), the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Frankfurt Goethe University. Items on display include examples of devices and tools used in geography, astronomy, oceanography, machinery, geometry, optics, medicine, chemistry, mining, physics, mechanics, war and architecture.
ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
Turkey's first modern art museum located in Karakoy was established by Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts in 2004. With its permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, photography gallery, library, cinema center, cafe, design store, and its video, educational and social programs, the museum offers a wide array of services in a multifaceted venue.
AVIATION MUSEUM
The museum was first established in Izmir in 1971; closed in 1979 and moving to its present location in Istanbul, was reopened in 1985. The museum which has exhibits outside the building as well as inside also contains a cinema, meeting hall and cafeteria. There are propeller planes, jet engine fighters, cargo planes, choppers and aviation weapons. Photographs, badges, medals and personnel effects of Turkish pilots are also being displayed.
KARIYE MUSEUM
The Kariye Museum (Church of the Holy Savior in Chora) has the best Byzantine mosaics in Istanbul. The church was originally built in the early 5th century. Later on, it was destroyed by earthquakes and abandoned for many centuries until the area was inhabited after the city walls. Chora church was rebuilt in the 11th century by Maria Ducaena, the mother-in-law of Alexius I Comnenus.
MUSEUMS IN BURSA PROVINCE
"TOFAS Anatolian Cars Museum" introduces Anatolia's 2,600-year car history. "TOFAS Anatolian Cars Museum", which is Turkey's first and only Anatolian cars museum, was opened on June 28, 2002. The museum displays car parts which were unearthed in 2,600-year old Balikesir Ucpinar Tumulus. Also historical oxcarts, carriages and phaetons are shown in the museum. The museum also hosts motor vehicles such as 1971 model Murat 124, Murat 131, Tempra and Palio Go.
"Bursa City Museum", which is in old court house, was opened on February 14, 2004. The museum displays the history of Bursa which goes back to 5,000 BC. Wax statues of Ottoman sultans also take place in the museum.
"Forestry Museum", which was established in 1989, is the only forestry museum of Turkey. It was founded to introduce the historical development of forestry as well as to inform public about forests. The museum takes place in Saatci Mansion. Forestry library, forest plants, cutting tools, materials used in forest engineering, photographs, historical documents, albums and Turkey's only tree fossil collection can be visited in the museum. There is a sample of "Sequoia tree" which grew in Anatolia three million years ago. "Sequoia tree" can only be seen in several regions of America in present day.
"Bursa Press Museum", which was established by Bursa Journalists Association, was opened in 2007. The museum tells the universal development of press as well as displays the printing machine which printed Bursa's first newspaper Hudavendigar.
"Uluumay Ottoman Folk Clothes and Ornaments Museum" displays clothes, ornaments and various objects belonging to Ottoman period. There are 70 clothes and 350 pieces of ornaments from Anatolia --dating back to 17th century-- and Ottoman period in the museum.
MUSEUMS IN TEKIRDAG PROVINCE
"Tekirdag Museum" displays the artifacts which were unearthed in excavations in Tekirdag province. The statue of King Cersobleptes of Thrace --who lived between 359-341 BC-- welcomes the visitors in stone arts hall of the museum. The tomb of Cersobleptes was unearthed in Harekattepe Tumulus on the 12th kilometer of Tekirdag-Istanbul highway in 1998. Archeological artifacts part of the museum displays various findings dating back to prehistoric ages till Byzantine period.
MUSEUMS IN EDIRNE PROVINCE
"Edirne Archeology & Ethnography Museum" --which was established in Selimiye Mosque Dar'ul Hadis School with directives of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Republic of Turkey, in 1925-- has two parts. Archeology part displays fossils from palaeonthologic period. In the garden of the museum, there are historical artifacts which were unearthed in excavations conducted in the city. Especially the statues of Aphrodite, which were found in excavations in Enez town of Edirne, are interesting.
"Turkish Islamic Arts Museum", which takes place in Selimiye Mosque Dar'ul Hadis School, is comprised of various halls displaying socks, embroidery, tablets, weapons, glass belongings, kitchen goods and measuring devices. Tombstones, which were collected from the 15th century tombs, are shown in the garden of the museum. Artilleries, cannon balls and food carriages which were used in Balkan War are also displayed in the garden.
"Trakya University Sultan Bayezid II Complex Health Museum", which takes place in Yeniimaret district, won European Museum Award in 2004 by eliminating 60 museums from 48 European countries. Treatment of mental patients with music 500 years ago is recreated with dummies in the museum. The museum displays the history visually by using music, water sound and fragrances. 500-year old treatment methods are also shown in the museum.
"Balkan War Museum" displays photographs showing Bulgarian artilleries' destroying the walls of Selimiye Mosque and Istanbul surrounded with flames.
"Selimiye Foundation Museum" takes place in Dar'ul Kurra School which was built by Architect Sinan in the garden of Selimiye Mosque between 1569 and 1575. The museum displays various objects used in mosques like candlestick, clock, banner, inscriptions, tablets and hand-written artifacts.
MUSEUMS IN KIRKLARELI PROVINCE
"Kirklareli Museum" exhibits 605 of 5,337 historical artifacts registered to the museum. The hall which displays embalmed birds draw interest in the museum. Over 100 bird species are displayed in the museum. Also the museum hosts very valuable marble statutes, pillars and tombs belonging to Roman period.
MUSEUMS IN CANAKKALE PROVINCE
"Canakkale Archeology Museum" displays archeological artifacts which were unearthed in Troia, Assos, Apollon, Smintheion, Tenedos, Alexandreia, Troas ruins and Dardanos Tumulus. There are 11,905 archaeologic and 3,042 ethnographic artifacts as well as 20,747 coins in the museum.
"Marine Museum" of Naval Forces Command, which was founded in 1982, has model of Nusret Mineplanter as well as photograph and picture gallery and a library. Also many weapons and military materials which were used in Canakkale War are displayed in the museum.
"Kabatepe Museum" exhibits weapons, bullets, war equipments which were used in Canakkale War as well as uniforms and war photos. The museum hosts nearly 70,000-80,000 visitors every year.
