“For me it has always been a city of ruins and of end-of-empire melancholy. I’ve spent my life either battling with this melancholy or (like all İstanbullus) making it my own.” Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City
A photo from the Museum of Innocence
Turkish culture befriended museums later in history unlike western cultures which have had a heritage of establishing museums for centuries. Therefore it is not possible to say that İstanbul is a city of museums but rather a museum like city itself. There are few state museums in the city and less number of private museums established in the last few decades.
Orhan Pamuk
Museum of Innocence is a museum established by the renowned Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk who won the Nobel prize in 2006. If you are a fan of Pamuk’s work and are interested in having a real life experience of his novel ‘Museum of Innocence’, here is an interesting museum for you named after his novel.
In a city which has lost most of innocence, it might be a delight to delve into the inner world of a novelist reminding us of our lost innocence.
Check its website at https://www.masumiyetmuzesi.org/
