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A photograph of Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Photograph · Edal Anton Lefterov · CC BY-SA 3.0

Museum · Sarıyer, Istanbul

Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi

Open today, 10:00 – 18:00
Today
Open today, 10:00 – 18:00
Visit duration
2 hours Editorial visit time estimate
Accessibility
Step-free
Price
TRY 450.00 per person
Standing
High
Rank
Rank 404 of 8,221
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Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Plan your visit.

Opening hours

Monday Closed
Tuesday 10:00 – 18:00
Wednesday 10:00 – 18:00
Thursday 10:00 – 18:00
Friday 10:00 – 18:00
Saturday 10:00 – 18:00
Sunday 10:00 – 18:00

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Admission

Per person TRY 450.00

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Access and facilities

  • Accessible toilets · Available
  • Pushchair access · Available
  • Step-free access · Available
  • Toilets · Available

Source · Checked 2026-08-31

A photograph of Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Photograph · Dosseman · CC BY-SA 4.0

About Sakıp Sabancı Museum

This is a museum that used to be somebody's house, and the house has an unusually crowded guest list. From 1848 to 1884 the Emirgan mansion passed through a succession of high-ranking pasha families and Egyptian khedives. Abdülhamid II then bought it and gave it to King Nicola I of Montenegro, who held it from 1884 until 1913; after the Ottoman state took it back it sheltered a granddaughter of Sultan Mehmed V. Prince Mehmed Ali Hasan commissioned the architect Edouard de Nari to rebuild it, and his sister moved in during 1944.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

A photograph of Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Photograph · Dosseman · CC BY-SA 4.0

What's inside

Three quite different things share the site. The permanent holdings run to nearly 400 works of calligraphy covering five hundred years of Ottoman practice, including Korans and imperial documents — this is the collection the museum is known for internationally. Alongside it sit over 320 paintings from the Ottoman and Republican periods, with Osman Hamdi Bey and Ivan Ayvazovsky among the names, and a group of eighteenth and nineteenth-century porcelains: Chinese pieces, French Sèvres, German work.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

How long to spend

Two hours is the figure that fits the whole site, and it divides roughly into three. The historic rooms of the Atlı Köşk with their period furnishings are worth half an hour on their own; the calligraphy and book-arts galleries reward slow looking and will absorb another forty minutes from anyone who reads the labels; a full temporary exhibition can eat forty-five minutes by itself. The Bosphorus garden and sculpture terrace add the rest. One caveat that genuinely changes the arithmetic: between temporary exhibitions parts of the gallery wing close.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Season and crowds

Open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00; closed Monday. Exhibition changes and private events can close individual galleries.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Tickets

Standard adult admission is TRY 450; Wednesday admission is free under the museum's public programme.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

A photograph of Sakıp Sabancı Museum
Photograph · Basak · CC0

Getting there

IETT Bosphorus buses stop at Emirgan; seasonal Şehir Hatları services use Emirgan pier, followed by a short uphill approach.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

What to watch out for

Ramps, lifts, accessible toilets and loan wheelchairs connect the mansion, galleries and principal garden route. Historic surfaces, crowds and security remain relevant.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Photography

Keep enough flexibility to move the visit within the same area if current conditions differ from the plan.

Checked 2026-08-31 · Source

Place details and sources

Type of place
Museum OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Established
2002 Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Opened
2002 Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Wikipedia article
Sakıp Sabancı Museum Wikipedia · Checked 2026-09-09

Common questions

Which day is closed?

The museum is closed on Mondays; it is open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00.

When is admission free?

Admission is free on Wednesdays under the museum's current programme.

Is it wheelchair accessible?

Yes, ramps, lifts and accessible toilets connect the mansion, galleries and principal garden route.

Are wheelchairs available?

Yes, the museum has loan wheelchairs available for visitors.

Can exhibitions close rooms?

Yes, exhibition changes and private events can close individual galleries.

Which bus stop area serves it?

IETT Bosphorus buses stop at Emirgan on the Bosphorus road, followed by a short uphill approach.

Where it is

Open directions in Google Maps

Nearby

Within 12 min on foot
  • Emirgan Mosque 30 min
    3 min walk · Sarıyer

    Emirgan Mosque

    • Must see
    • Place of worship
  • Emirgan Park 1 hr 30 min
    6 min walk · Sarıyer

    Emirgan Park

    • Notable
    • Nature site
  • Serhazir Süleyman Aga Mosque 30 min
    12 min walk · Sarıyer

    Serhazir Süleyman Aga Mosque

    • Notable
    • Place of worship

In Sarıyer

Same category

Fit it into a plan

Last updated:

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·