Sadberk Hanım Museum

Open everyday except Wednesday from 10:00 to 17:00
Entrance fee: 7.00 TL - regular, 2 TL - student

Up the Bosphorus at a picturesque village of Büyükdere, the collections of the Sadberk Hanim Museum (The Vehbi Koç Foundation) fill two charming 19th century wooden villas. A private museum which originally displayed Turkish decorative arts, it has recently been expanded with a new collection of archaeological finds.

Sadberk Hanım (or "Mrs. Sadberk" in English) was Vehbi Koç's wife, the leading businessman and founder of Koç Holding Group of Companies. The Koç Group, a seventy-four year old establishment, is the largest and one of the most respected corporations in Turkey. Mrs. Koç was a member of an old Turkish family and she was a good collector.

As we have mentioned the museum consists of two separate buildings. The original building is a three-story (plus an attic) wooden mansion believed to be built in the late 19th century and whose architecture was inspired by European vernacular traditions. The building was constructed of wood and lathe-and-plaster on a masonry foundation

The building was purchased by the Koç family in 1950 and was used as a summerhouse by them until they decide to convert it into a museum in 1978. The conversion work was carried out between 1978 and 1980 according to a restoration project that had been prepared by Sedat Hakkı Eldem, a worldwide known Turkish architect. It was opened to the public on October 14, 1980 with the Sadberk Koç collection on display.

Also in 1988 the "Sevgi Gönül (Mr. Koç's daughter, deceased in September 2003) Wing" of the museum was opened and it hosts works of the pre-Islamic period.

In 1988 it won the "Europa Nostra" award as an outstanding example of modern museum architecture and design.

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