New museum dedicated to photography opens in city

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The Istanbul Photography Museum will be home to various photo exhibitions on an area of 1,000 square meters. AA Photo

Turkey’s first photography museum, the Istanbul Photography Museum, opened Saturday in collaboration with the Fatih Municipality and the Photography Friends Association. The museum, covering an area of 1,000 square meters in Fatih’s Kadırga district, includes five photography galleries, a photo archive and a library.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Istanbul Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Emre Bilgili said both Turkey’s and Istanbul’s photography and photographer potential was very high. “We did not have the chance to see works outside exhibitions in the past. The opening of this museum fulfilled a deficiency in Turkey.”

Biligli said the museum would be home to permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Fatih Mayor Mustafa Demir said work for the museum started in 2009 and classes would be offered for photography students.

He said the ticket price for the museum was 2 Turkish Liras because they wanted primary school students to visit the museum.

Turkey’s renowned photography artist Ara Güler said photographs were rescued from being destroyed thanks to the museum.

The Istanbul Photography Museum aims to support the art of photography and amateur and professional photographers in Turkey and will serve as a new cultural center to develop the art of photography with collections, exhibitions, publications, photography archives, library, events, projects and educational presentations.