In a museum even the
simplest object is a messenger from the past bringing echoing voices from a world long
gone. It is a strange feeling to be in contact over a gulf of centuries or millenia. Each
artefact or document was made and used by other human hands long ago, and has the capacity
to throw light on one or more aspects of their daily lives.That is the feeling which
awaits you in Sadberk Hanım Museum, named after the wife of Turkish industrialist Vehbi
Koç. It was Sadberk Hanım’s wish that a museum be founded to house her private
collection, which was noted above all for its Ottoman embroideries and costumes.
Unfortunately she died on 23 November 1973, seven years before the museum opened. Her
family set about restoring the 19th-century house at Büyükdere on the northern shore of
the Bosphorus which had been chosen as an appropriate location for the museum, and it
opened on 14 October 1980.In 1983 the museum purchased the famous collection of Hüseyin
Kocabaş which was put up for sale by his heirs after his death. This remarkable
collection, spanning eight thousand years from 6000 BC to the end of the 19th century,
represented the many different civilisations of Anatolia. Sadberk Hanım Museum now
divided its collection into two, the Antiquities and Islamic and Ottoman sections, housed
in separate buildings.The original museum building is a late 19th century
timber house near the Black Sea mouth of the Bosphorus Strait. It is half-timbered with
two main storeys and an attic floor, and its architecture is influenced by traditional
European vernacular style. The X-shaped wooden decorations and bosses screwed onto the
façade inspired the local people to call it the ‘Screw House’ instead of its proper
name Azaryan Yalısı. It was purchased by the Koç family in 1950 and they used it as a
summer house until 1978, when restoration began according to plans drawn up by the
architect Sedat Hakkı Eldem, and the interior was fitted out to house the museum
exhibits. Including the small garden, the museum has a total area of 4280 square metres.
On the ground floor is a gift shop and small tea room. The ceiling of the original hall
has a coffered ceiling of the type inspired by ancient Roman architecture, and the walls
are painted in an imitation of marble, as was fashionable at the time. The exhibition
areas are on the ground and first floors, the attic floor being occupied by storerooms,
offices and the library. When Hüseyin Kocabaş’s collection was purchased in 1983 this
building was no longer large enough, and the Vehbi Koç Foundation purchased the
half-ruined house nextdoor which is thought to date from the early 20th century. This was
restored by İbrahim Yalçın, with the exterior faithful to the original, but the
interior as a striking modern museum.Renamed the Sevgi Gönül building, the new section
housing the pre-Islamic collections opened to the public in 1988. That same year it won
the coveted Europa Nostra Award for museums. The façade is revetted in wood. The building
has four storeys at the back and three at the front. The ground floor contains a lecture
room and conservation laboratory. On the next three floors are the galleries where the
exhibits are arranged in chronological order over an area of 625 square metres. No
daylight at all is admitted into the galleries.Sadberk Hanım Museum is a pleasure to
visit, and its situation on the upper shore of the Bosphorus is a chance to get out of the
city and see some enchanting scenery as well. The museum is open daily except Wednesdays
from 10.00 to 17.00.
Skylife 04/99
* By Aynur Erdem *Photos Hakan Aydoğan
* Aynur Erdem is an archaeologist and journalist
In a museum even the
simplest object is a messenger from the past bringing echoing voices from a world long
gone. It is a strange feeling to be in contact over a gulf of centuries or millenia. Each
artefact or document was made and used by other human hands long ago, and has the capacity
to throw light on one or more aspects of their daily lives.That is the feeling which
awaits you in Sadberk Hanım Museum, named after the wife of Turkish industrialist Vehbi
Koç. It was Sadberk Hanım’s wish that a museum be founded to house her private
collection, which was noted above all for its Ottoman embroideries and costumes.
Unfortunately she died on 23 November 1973, seven years before the museum opened. Her
family set about restoring the 19th-century house at Büyükdere on the northern shore of
the Bosphorus which had been chosen as an appropriate location for the museum, and it
opened on 14 October 1980.In 1983 the museum purchased the famous collection of Hüseyin
Kocabaş which was put up for sale by his heirs after his death. This remarkable
collection, spanning eight thousand years from 6000 BC to the end of the 19th century,
represented the many different civilisations of Anatolia. Sadberk Hanım Museum now
divided its collection into two, the Antiquities and Islamic and Ottoman sections, housed
in separate
buildings.The original museum building is a late 19th century
timber house near the Black Sea mouth of the Bosphorus Strait. It is half-timbered with
two main storeys and an attic floor, and its architecture is influenced by traditional
European vernacular style. The X-shaped wooden decorations and bosses screwed onto the
façade inspired the local people to call it the ‘Screw House’ instead of its proper
name Azaryan Yalısı. It was purchased by the Koç family in 1950 and they used it as a
summer house until 1978, when restoration began according to plans drawn up by the
architect Sedat Hakkı Eldem, and the interior was fitted out to house the museum
exhibits. Including the small garden, the museum has a total area of 4280 square metres.
On the ground floor is a gift shop and small tea room. The ceiling of the original hall
has a coffered ceiling of the type inspired by ancient Roman architecture, and the walls
are painted in an imitation of marble, as was fashionable at the time. The exhibition
areas are on the ground and first floors, the attic floor being occupied by storerooms,
offices and the library. When Hüseyin Kocabaş’s collection was purchased in 1983 this
building was no longer large enough, and the Vehbi Koç Foundation purchased the
half-ruined house nextdoor which is thought to date from the early 20th century. This was
restored by İbrahim Yalçın, with the exterior faithful to the original, but the
interior as a striking modern museum.Renamed the Sevgi Gönül building, the new section
housing the pre-Islamic collections opened to the public in 1988. That same year it won
the coveted Europa Nostra Award for museums. The façade is revetted in wood. The building
has four storeys at the back and three at the front. The ground floor contains a lecture
room and conservation laboratory. On the next three floors are the galleries where the
exhibits are arranged in chronological order over an area of 625 square metres. No
daylight at all is admitted into the galleries.Sadberk Hanım Museum is a pleasure to
visit, and its situation on the upper shore of the Bosphorus is a chance to get out of the
city and see some enchanting scenery as well. The museum is open daily except Wednesdays
from 10.00 to 17.00.