Museum collections show final years of Ottomans

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

The National Palace Collection Museum in Istanbul, which is made up of a museum, storage and art gallery, is home to more than 50,000 rare objects from Dolmabahçe Palace as well as 19th-century mansions and summer palaces.

A restructuring in 2011 succeeded in bringing together objects that visitors had previously not had a chance to see and protect them, said Palace Collection Museum official Güller Karahüseyin.

For the protection of cultural heritage, the 19th-century objects, most of which were used for special occasions in palaces and mansions and stored in the depots of Dolmabahçe Palace, were brought together in a 100-square-meter storage in the back of the Palace Collections Museums.

Karahüseyin said it was Turkey’s first and only storage museum. “Ninety-five percent of the objects here were kept in the storages in the ground floors and attics of the Dolmabahçe Palace in the past.

Following the ones in Dolmabahçe, the other objects kept in other palaces and mansions were brought here, too. We have 50,774 objects in our storage. We are working to bring the new ones from other palaces and mansions. When they come, we will have nearly 55,000 objects in the museum. At the moment, 1,508 objects are on display in the museum and 50,774 objects are being kept in the storage.”

Karahüseyin said they were trying to keep the objects of all types in ideal conditions. “The seasoning here is between 18-22 degrees and the humidity rate is under control. We also provide surface cleaning for all objects here periodically. The cleaning of furniture was recently made. In this way, we can look to see if any bugs are damaging the objects. If there is any damage, we send the objects to be disinfected.”

Kept in different places  

She said large furniture and objects, which are stored behind the museum, are kept in locked safes, valuable rare fabrics and metal objects are kept in sealed and locked drawers while porcelains are stored in big blue boxes according to their types.

The museum, which is open every day except Monday and the first day of religious holidays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., is home to objects such as bronze and silver chandeliers produced for banquets, silver lanterns, Yıldız Porcelain Factory products, water jars with plugs, stoves, fireplaces and woodbins, embroidered fabrics, a special telephone used in the palace at the beginning of 1900s, a dental patient chair, massage tools, panoramic camera and voice recorders.

Dresses used in the palace, toys from Dürrüşehvar Sultan and the products of the Hereke Carpet and Weaving Factory that were used in the palace, are among the most attractive items in the museum.

It is also possible to see specially produced silver-gold dinner sets from the Mahmut II era (1808-1839) in the museum as well as books from Sultan Abdülmecid’s library and paintings.