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The Foundation Works Museum (Vakıf Eserleri Müzesi) in Ankara, Turkey, is an ethnographic museum displaying items endowed to mosques all over the country.
Foundation Works Museum Building
The museum building was originally built between 1927 and 1928 for the Ankara Law School (Ankara Hukuk Mektebi), which later became Ankara University (Ankara Üniversitesi). In 1941, the Ankara Girls Art School (Ankara Kız Sanat Mektebi) moved in before it served as first a female then a male dormitory. The Ankara Mufti (Ankara Müftülüğü) rented the building until 2004 and operated a public soup kitchen in the basement. Finally, the building was renovated and opened as the Foundation Works Museum on May 7, 2007.
Visiting the Foundation Works Museum
The Foundation Works Museum is open daily except Mondays from 9am to 5pm. Admission is free (as of March 2024). It’s located on Atatürk Boulevard just east of Gençlik Park.
The museum boasts an impressive collection worth seeing. It includes carpets, rugs, woodworks, metal, tiles, manuscripts, and textiles dating between the 13th and 20th centuries. There are over 2,600 items in the collection and roughly 250 are on display. Detailed information is available in both Turkish and English.
Carpets
On the first floor is a gallery displaying Ottoman carpets dating from the 16th to 20th centuries and kilims from the 18th to 20th centuries. There are also carpet making tools on display along with the scene of a woman sitting at a loom weaving a rug.
In Anatolian tradition, it’s believed that anyone who donates a carpet to a mosque will share the benefit of the person who prays on it. Also, once a carpet was donated to a mosque, it could never be removed. This is why several historic carpets and kilims have survived to this day.
The carpets are carefully displayed in cases on the wall. Visitors can slide the cases back and forth to see different examples.
Wood and Metal Works
A gallery on the second floor features a few more carpets as well as wood and metal items. Woodworks include window shutters from the Ahi Elvan Mosque in the Samanpazarı area of Ankara. Some wooden items date back to the 13th century.
Metal items on display include candlesticks and finials. They’re made of copper, bronze, and tombac and are in different sizes and styles.
Manuscripts
A small room is dedicated to calligraphy, which is an art dating back to the 7th century. Most of the items in the Foundation Works Museum are manuscripts consisting of endowment deeds of Ottoman sultans. There are also Qurans from mosques and madrasas.
In addition to the Ottoman calligraphy on display, there are some 16th century Safavid manuscripts imported to the Ottoman Empire from Iran.
Ceramic Tiles and Kilims
The final gallery is a large room dedicated to ceramic tiles and kilims. It also contains other textiles.
The tiles on display include colorful floral patterns and scenes of Mecca. They date back to the 16th century.
