The first museum of Turkey: St.lrene
The ottoman band of musicians had been organizing concerts in 1914 in st. Irene, the first museum of the ottoman era. This tradition caught again thanks to the international Istanbul festival still continues.
The works exhibited for the last time in St. Irene before being moved to Nigde in 1940. These works are now exposed in the Harbiye Military Museum. (The source of the photo is the Collection of Gokhan Akgura, Istanbul Encyclopedia).The Roman Emperor Constantinus I. had called Hagia Sophia “,Holy Might” and he had named St.lrene “Divine Safety”. Built on the remains of the temples of Aphrodite, Artemis and Apollon at the beginning of the 4th century and where actually many concerts and art performances are staged, the edifice has a very active past. The church built on the outer courtyard of the Topkapi Palace had been burnt during the Nika rebellion and had been restored again with Hagia Sophia during the reign of the Emperor Justinianos.
The first museum of Turkey – The three earthquakes happened in the 8th and 9th centuries had caused serious damages to the edifice.After the conquest of Istanbul, the church had remained within the walls of “Sur-i Sultani” surrounding the Topkapi Palace and it had been used as arsenal until the reign of Ahmed III. The Ottomans hadn’t transformed the church into the mosque and had preferred to use it as warehouse first and then “museum”.
The first Museum of Ottoman
The edifice was restored in 1726 upon the order of Ahmed III. and it was opened to the public visit. Many precious collections, Qurans and trusts sent from various provinces of the empire were gathered here and an epitaph written “Daru’l-Esliha” was placed on the door. The edifice was pillaged during the Janissary rebellion and it was transformed again to an arsenal called “Army Arsenal” in 1839. In 1846, it was opened as the museum.
