Poet Tevfik Fikret’s home, Aşiyan Museum reopened

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The Aşiyan Museum, which is located in the house where the famous poet Tevfik Fikret spent his life, has been reopened by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş in Beşiktaş after a long restoration period. AA photo

The Aşiyan Museum, located in the house where the famous poet Tevfik Fikret spent his life, has been reopened by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş in Beşiktaş after undergoing restoration.

Speaking at the opening ceremony Topbaş said Aşiyan was an important venue for Istanbul. “I am proud to open this museum to the public.”

The Aşiyan Museum is located in the three-story house once owned by Fikret (1867-1915), a famous Turkish poet who lived there between 1906 and 1915. Fikret built this house below the campus of Robert College. On the initiative of Lütfi Kırdar, both the mayor and governor of Istanbul at the time, it was purchased from his widow, Nazime Hanım, and opened to the public by the city in 1940. It began to operate as a museum under the name Edebiyat-ı Cedide Museum in 1945.

The museum and Fikret
The ground floor of the museum is used for administrative affairs. On the second floor, there is a room dedicated to the poet Nigar Hanım, where her personal belongings, such as photos and paintings are exhibited. The Edebiyat-ı Cedide Room holds personal belongings and documents that belonged to the authors of Edebiyat-ı Cedide. In the Hall of Abdülhak Hamit, Hamit’s belongings and documents are displayed. Hamit is famous for his poem “Makber” (The Grave). On the top floor is Fikret’s bedroom, where his personal belongings and the bed in which he passed away are displayed. His chair and worktable are shown in the study, where he wrote poems and other works, with his personal effects and paintings.

In 1961, the museum was renamed the Aşiyan Museum and became one of the sites operated by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It is an important place for lovers of literature to visit.

Fikret was a man of thought who brought new things to his own country, Topbaş said.

The Aşiyan Museum is the collective memory of Istanbul, the mayor added.