Museums open for visitors over holiday

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Turkey's art calender offers a great deal of options for art lovers. This week is a great chance for those who spend their holiday in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir to experience a week full of art. Most of prominent museums in three big cities will be open after tomorrow

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Museums in Turkey's three big cities, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, promise a holiday full of history and art for those who want to spend this week of holiday visiting exhibitions. Since most of the museums continue to welcome their visitors during the holiday, a variety of exhibitions to suit all interests await visitors.

Among Istanbul's museums, the Pera Museum, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Dolmabahçe Palace Museum, Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Water Museum (Deniz Müzesi) and Topkapı Museum are open on the second and third days of the Ramadan holiday. The only museum in Istanbul that will be open on the first, second and the third day of the holiday is Yedikule Hisarı Museum. Basilica Sistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı), Archeology Museum, Hagia Sophia and Turkish Islamic Arts Museum and Hagia Irini Church will be open on the first day after 1:00 p.m. and they will stay open for the rest of the holiday.

In the capital Ankara, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, State Art and Statue Museum, and Ethnography Museum of Ankara will open at 12:30 p.m. on the first day of the holiday and welcome visitors between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. for the remaining holiday period. Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which includes an important exhibition on the Independence War as a permanent exhibition, will be open every day except Monday. Atatürk's house, which was modeled on the original one in Salonika, will open it's doors from the third day of the holiday. The museum will be open between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

The Aviation Museum of the Air Force Command and Ankara's first industrial museum, the Çengelhan Rahmi Koç Museum, will be open after the first day of the holiday. The Aviation Museum will be open between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., while the Koç museum will be open between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

The İzmir Ethnography Museum and İzmir Archeology Museum will be open after 1 p.m. on the first day of Bayram and will be open for the entire Bayram holiday. The world's oldest known agora, the İzmir Agora Open Air Museum, and the İzmir Trade History Museum can be visited every day between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. The İzmir Atatürk Museum will not be open during Bayram, but afterwards opens between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

While the ruins at Ephesus and the Selcuk Virgin Mary House, Çeşme Museum and Bergama Museum can be visited during the holiday between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., the Selçuk Ephesus Museum will open its doors to visitors after 1 p.m. on the first day of Bayram.

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