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The Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center is an art museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s located in Tophane area of the Beyoğlu district.
History
Tophane-i Amire was the imperial Ottoman armory built in the mid-1400s under Mehmed the Conqueror. The armory was built on the site of two churches from the Byzantine period, St. Claire and St. Photini. Its purpose was to manufacture cannonballs and cannons.
In the early 1900s, the armory became an education center. In 1958, it was briefly used as a military museum and for other purposes until 1992, when it became property of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. The remaining three buildings are now used as the art museum. They consist of the Five Domes building (Beş Kubbe), Single Dome building (Tek Kubbe), and the Cisterns (Sarniclar).
Visiting
Admission to the Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center is free (as of August 2023). It’s open daily except Mondays. The museum is located outside the Tophane tram stop on the T1 tram line across the street from the Kılıç Ali Pasha Mosque. It’s also a short walk downhill from Galatasaray Square on Istiklal Street.
Cisterns
After passing through security, the first section of the museum I visited was the Cisterns. At the time of my visit there was a photography exhibition.
Single Dome
Next, I visited the Single Dome. It contained an exhibition by Huri Kiriş titled Terra. The artwork was hauntingly impressive.
Five Domes
The Five Domes building displays the museum’s main collection. There are paintings by several well-known artists on display throughout many different sections.
Works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Léon De Smet (1881-1966), Maxime Maufra (1861-1918), and others made up a wonderful collection. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.
