The Naval Museum in Istanbul

Istanbul as a sea port has a long history of its fleet. The first boats came here for a few thousand years before Christ, they were the ships of the ancient Greeks. People did not sail far from the shore traveling by sea, so they appreciated Bosporus at its true value. This is how Byzantium appeared, then Constantinople after him, then Istanbul... And the whole history of the town is connected with the history of the fleet. So it is not surprising that one of the most interesting museums of Istanbul is the Naval Museum.

It is considered one of the best in the world and is located in Besiktas district. That very district from which formidable flotilla led by Admiral Barbarossa sailed in time of the Ottoman Empire. He himself is an Italian by birth, but he was captured by Algerian pirates where he adopted Islam. Then he rose to the post of admiral and viceroy of the Sultan. When Barbarossa died, he was buried in the mausoleum with full honors, next to his monument. Here is where the Naval Museum in Istanbul is placed.

The museum exhibits will be of interest not only to the fans of military history, but to all the tourists. There are examples of vessels, among which there are sailing boats which floated when the Dorian Greeks stormed Troy, and Roman triremes which inspired fear on the entire Mediterranean region, and comfortable yachts, and the most modern ships with the latest navigation systems... Of course, they couldn’t do without omnipresent Turkish Ataturk. In the Naval Museum they restored furnishings of his beloved yacht Savarona to the last stroke. Another exhibition is dedicated to the ship Yavuz which became a symbol of the naval forces of Turkey. Well, the real salt of the museum is a collection of maps, each of them costs millions and millions of dollars. For example, one of the most ancient surviving world maps dates from the early 16 century, for the first time in the history of cartography it displayed the coast of America. This is a rarity and a treasure, so the Naval museum usually exhibits a copy (also ancient one) and the original is kept in the treasury of Topkapi Palace. One more antiquity is a gun from under the walls of Austria, where in the early 17 th century Turkish army retreated.

One more touching moment - here is a plate on which are engraved the names of the dead crewmen of the Turkish fleet. The very first name dates back to 1319 year. Turkey remembers its fallen soldiers...

From the beautiful things in the museum there are paintings by Aivazovsky who spent several years at the court of the Sultan, painting the Bosphorus. And also - sailors’ mannequins from various periods (from medieval to modern).

The museum’s decoration is considered to be the collection of sultan’s boats. They represent richly decorated vessels whose rulers crossed the Bosphorus, or which delivered from one side of Istanbul to the other letters, courtiers, decrees or... dishes for dinner. Yes, it often happened that the Sultan was resting on one side of the Bosphorus and the cooks were working on the other. Then the galleys intervened. But there were battle crafts among those ships, and all the visitors to the Naval Museum in Istanbul will also see them.

The museum is open every day except Mondays and Tuesdays, from 9:00 to 17:00.

The entrance fee is 3 lire (about US $2).