Military Museum

Open everyday except Monday and Tuesday from 09.00 to 17.00.
Entrance fee: 3 TL-regular, 1 TL-studens

What about listening to an Ottoman Army band who wearsoriginal garments and traditional instruments in the city? Then don't miss the Mehter Band at the Military Museum. Their concerts are between 15.00 and 16.00 on the days when the museum is open to visitors.

The first military museum was placed in the Byzantine Church of St. Irene, located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace, in the 19th century. This building was originally used by the Janissaries (the Ottoman soldiers), as an armory right after the conquest of Istanbul in 1453. At the beginning of the Second World War, the objects were carried to Nigde, a Central Anatolia city, for security reasons. After the war they were placed in the gymnasium of the War Academy in Istanbul (1955). Then the academy building was restored into a new museum in 1993.

Approximately 10,000 weapons and armors belonging to Turks as well as other nations are exhibited in the museum. The muesum has 17 different halls, which are organized under the following categories: Weapons, Tents, Clothing, World War I, Republican Era, Dardanelle Battles, Independence War, Atatürk, and Martyrs.

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