Pera Museum

Meşrutiyet Caddesi, 141
Beyoglu, Istanbul
Tel: (212) 334 99 00
Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-19:00, Sunday: 12:00-18:00, closed on Monday
Entrance fee: 10 TL - regular, 5 TL - student

Pera Project, which is planned by the Suna-Inan Kıraç Foundation, is composed of a museum, a research institute and a cultural center. The first phase; "Pera Museum", was opened in June 2005.

The foundation purchased the Bristol Hotel in Tepebaşı in 2002. The building was constructed in 1893 by architect Achille Manousos. It was rebuilt, without changing the façade, according to modern museum concepts and standards.

The "Kütahya Tiles Collection" and "Anatolian Weights and Measurements Collection" of the Kıraç family and the "Oriental Painting Collection" of Sevgi and Doğan Gönül are the permanent exhibitions in the museum. In addition, three art galleries where classical and modern art exhibitions can take place and which can be connected to one another when needed, plus an auditorium for 175 people are among the facilities of the museum.

Famous Turkish businessman Vehbi Koç's daughter Suna Kıraç and her husband Inan Kıraç aim, like the other members of Koç Family, to share their cultural accumulation with Turkish society. They have already renovated an old Turkish house as a museum in Antalya Kaleiçi.

Pera Museum will be the third museum of the Koç Family following the Sadberk Hanım Müzesi and Rahmi Koç Müzesi. Since the Pera Museum is designed in international museum standards, foreign collections can easily be exhibited. Byzantine works, Şevket Rado's 650-piece collection of Ottoman-era handwritten books and the Republican era book collection, which is composed of all the books published about Atatürk, will be on display at the Istanbul Research Institute, located 150 meters away from the museum. The Institute will also serve students, teachers and researchers.

The Suna-Inan Kıraç Foundation bought famous Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey's "Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi" (Turtle Trainer) picture for $3.5 million for the museum in December 2004. Inan Kıraç says that the most expensive piece in the museum is "Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi" and that there are five more works of Osman Hamdi Bey, which also will be on display.

The third phase of the Pera Project is the establishment of a cultural center. The foundation is looking for such a site to purchase where opera and philharmonic orchestras can perform.

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