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The Carpet Museum (Halı Müzesi) in Istanbul, Turkey, contains some of the finest carpets ever to grace the mosques of Anatolia. It’s temporarily closed and is going through a transitional period.
Future of the Carpet Museum
The Carpet Museum was located within the Hagia Sophia complex from 2013 to 2020. The entrance was at the northeast corner of Hagia Sophia at Soğukçeşme Street through a beautiful Baroque gate. Apparently the museum will reopen again in the Imperial Loge of the Blue Mosque (as of December 2023). I’ll update this post when I can verify the information.
All of the following photos and information about the museum are from my visit in November 2018 when it was located at Hagia Sophia, which was converted from a museum to a mosque in July 2020.
First Gallery
The first gallery displays the rarest and oldest Ottoman carpets in the collection. They date to the 14th and 15th centuries, with the most well-known being from Uşak. Many are heavily damaged but still quite impressive.
Second Gallery
The second gallery displays carpets from central and eastern Anatolia from the 15th through 19th centuries. Many of the carpets in this gallery were used in the Divriği Great Mosque.
Third Gallery
The third gallery displays the largest and most stunning Uşak carpets. Many are floor to ceiling length, and some come from the Süleymaniye Mosque and Blue Mosque.
Fourth Gallery
Finally, the much smaller fourth gallery contains a few smaller carpets and kilims from throughout Anatolia.
My Thoughts on the Carpet Museum
All in all, I enjoyed my visit to the Carpet Museum. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. The carpets are labeled clearly with the location and approximate year they were produced as well as the mosque they once adorned. I look forward to its reopening and will definitely visit again to see the changes.
