Museum of Islamic Civilizations

The Museum of Islamic Civilizations is part of the Büyük Çamlıca Mosque complex in Üsküdar and is run by the National Palaces Administration. It opened in April 2022 in about 10,000 square metres of indoor space.

More than 600 works dating from the 7th to the 19th century are arranged under fifteen themes. They were selected from six museums: Topkapı Palace, the Palace Collections Museum, the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, the Istanbul Museum of Tombs, the Foundations Museum and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.

The museum's official ticket table lists entry as free for domestic visitors, while foreign visitors and foreign students pay. A group that mixes Turkish citizens with foreign guests therefore cannot be handled as one ticket transaction.

Sort this out before the group reaches the ticket office: who needs a ticket, who needs identification, and where the rest wait. Doing it at the window means half the group stands idle while the other half queues.

The themes run from the Kaaba and the early period of Islam through science, architecture, Qur'an manuscripts and their cases, the Damascus documents, calligraphy, tiles, coins, arms, talismanic shirts, Ottoman clothing, imperial decrees and Turkish textiles. Each one is a talk of its own, and a group will not stay attentive through all of them.

Choose three or four in advance and treat the rest as free time. For a group that has seen or will see Topkapı Palace, the reliquary cases and calligraphy connect directly to it, since part of the collection came from there and from the Palace Collections Museum.

The museum was designed with digital and interactive displays. One is a 2 minute 17 second installation called Âb-ı Hayat on water and its place in life; another is a set of listening stations that play examples of Turkish musical modes used historically in healing.

Narrating over a running installation means competing with it. Either let it play through and talk afterwards, or move the group on before it starts.

The museum is on the list of visitable National Palaces sites, so the Administration's visiting rules apply here as they do at Topkapı. Once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people, a headset system is mandatory, and guides may not narrate loudly indoors without one. Visitors who do not follow the rules can be asked to leave by the staff.

The rules do not name a type of system. If you plan to use anything other than the familiar rented sets, a phone-based system like ours included, confirm with the museum that it is accepted before the day. The article texts and every site the rule covers are on our Topkapı headset rule page.