Asiyan Museum in Istanbul

There are many museums in Istanbul - Museum of Calligraphy, museums of toys and old cars, Archaeological and Contemporary Art Museum... There are over 150 museums in the city and their number is constantly growing! But perhaps one of the most unusual museums in Istanbul is Asiyan Museum. This is a place where you can become acquainted with the life and work of "Turkish Villon", an outstanding poet Tevfik Fikret.

He was a daring, provoking poet. No wonder he was compared to the man who was called the last singer of the Middle Ages and the first singer of the Renaissance - Francois Villon, a poet-convict who wrote fabulous poetry and died somewhere on the gallows in France of the 15 century... Fortunately, Fikret didn’t face with gallows. Although he could. He was famous throughout Istanbul for his defiance. The reason was simple: like his European counterparts, Fikret, who lived in the late 19 - early 20th century, was a postmodernist. It meant to be provocative not only in poetry, but also in his personal life. Everything was good, but at that time Sultan Abdul-Hamid, famous throughout the Ottoman Empire for its steep temper, was the ruler of the country. He was constantly angry with the poet, though admitted his talent. Once, to reconcile the poet with the lord of the empire, the courtiers invited Fikret for dinner at Dolmabahce Palace - the luxurious mansion of gold and precious stones (we do not exaggerate - only for internal furnishing it took 40 tons of gold!). The poet has come, but... with his wife. It was the end of the 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire was a strict Muslim country, and not a secular state as the Turkish Republic of today. There was incredible scandal! The poet was arrested and sentenced to a fine for "embarrassment he gave to the city, bringing a woman to their dinner". Fikret was not scared at all. He has built a small house on the shore of the Bosphorus, where, figuratively speaking, he derived his inspiration. A luxurious wooden mansion with a dozen rooms became the poet’s refuge to his very death. Fikret called this mansion "Asiyan", which in Turkish means "bird’s nest".

Years have passed and the importance of Fikret’s personality and works became evident to all. In 1940, the Municipality of Istanbul has decided to buy the wooden palace as to organize a museum dedicated to Fikret. They did it, and in 1961 the poet’s remains were reburied.

The museum is open every day except Sunday and Monday, from 9:00 to 16:00.
The entrance is free.