Rahmi M. Koç Museum

This article is about the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in Istanbul. For its namesake in Ankara, see Çengelhan Rahmi M. Koç Museum.
Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Rahmi M. Koç Müzesi
Location of Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Established December 13, 1994 (1994-12-13)
Location Hasköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Coordinates 41°02′32″N 28°56′57″E / 41.04227°N 28.94926°E / 41.04227; 28.94926
Type Technology
Director Ertuğrul Duru
President Rahmi M. Koç
Website www.rmk-museum.org.tr/english/index.html

The Rahmi M. Koç Museum is a private industrial museum in Istanbul, Turkey dedicated to history of transport, industry and communications. Rahmi M. Koç, member of the wealthiest dynasty in Turkey and retired boss of the Koç Group, founded the museum in 1991, which was opened on December 13, 1994. The museum is located in the suburb of Hasköy on the north shore of the Golden Horn and situated in two historical buildings connected to each other. It is open to public every day except Monday. The museum's general manager is Ertuğrul Duru.

A sister museum, but smaller in size, the Çengelhan Rahmi M. Koç Museum opened its doors to the residents of Ankara in 2005.

History

A visit of Rahmi Koç to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, United States inspired him to create this museum. The Koç Foundation bought the first museum building in 1991, which was left derelict and seriously damaged after a roof fire in 1984. This building (in Turkish: Lengerhane), was initially used for casting anchors and chains for the Ottoman navy, during the rule of Ahmet III (1703–1730). It was restored during the reign of Selim III (1789–1807) before passing into the ownership of Ministry of Finance in the Ottoman Empire. During the Republican era, the State Monopoly and Tobacco Co. then used the building as a warehouse until 1951. The Koç Foundation spent two and half years for the restoration work of this class II historical monument.

In July 2001, the museum opened a new building to improve the display of its collection of industrial and scientific artifacts. This new section was a disused historical dockyard, founded in 1861 by the former Ottoman Maritime Company (Şirket-i Hayriye) for the maintenance and repair of its own ships. The Koç Foundation bought the building in 1996.

The two buildings are on the same road, on opposite sides: the dockyard part of the complex is on the shores of the Golden Horn. A glass-sided ramp leads down to the basement exhibition area of the Lengerhane.

Exhibits

Permanent exhibitions

Most of the items exhibited in the museum are selected from Rahmi Koç's private collection. Other objects are either borrowed from or donated by various organizations and individuals. Original machines and their replicas, scientific and mechanical items make up the basis of the museum's exhibits.

TCG Uluçalireis (S 338) moored before the museum at the Golden Horn

Models and toys: Hands-on: Cutaway car, aero plane, scientific experiments and cutaway domestic goods.

Temporary exhibitions

Images

References

  1. "Denizaltıda esrarengiz bomba" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  2. "Ünlü Türk denizci Sadun Boro hayatını kaybetti". Milliyet (in Turkish). 2015-06-05. Retrieved 2015-06-06.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rahmi M. Koç Museum.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.