Kartal Belediyesi Masal Müzesi

Kartal Municipality Fairy Tale Museum is a fairy tale museum opened to visitors in 2017 in the Yakacık neighborhood of Kartal district, Istanbul.

In the building that carries a fairy‑tale atmosphere, historic toys and first‑edition fairy‑tale books from Turkish and world literature are exhibited. Curated by Sunay Akın, the museum established by Kartal Municipality was inaugurated on 29 November 2017.

History

The museum was founded in 2017 by Kartal Municipality under the curatorship of poet‑author Sunay Akın. For the museum’s establishment, a two‑storey building on the verge of demolition in a grove in Yakacık Market neighborhood was restored. The building was designed in the form of a pop‑up book by stage‑design artist Ayhan Doğan.

Inside the museum and in its garden, statues of many fairy‑tale heroes such as Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Heidi, Hansel and Gretel and Keloğlan were placed, and a statue of Hans Christian Andersen was installed in the library section. The guardhouse at the entrance was designed as Pinocchio’s house. The opening took place on 29 November 2017.

Collection and exhibition

At the museum entrance there is a “history of fairy‑tale reading” section where doll houses are displayed. In the book‑shop doll house there are toy books that are exact miniature copies of the originals.

In the fairy‑tale books section of the museum, which includes Turkish and world fairy tales, the book *Kitab‑ı Dede Korkut* written in Ottoman Turkish by Rıfat of Kilis in 1916 is also present.

Toys, illustrations and first‑edition books of works such as the Bremen Town Musicians, 101 Dalmatian, Bambi, Don Quixote, The Little Prince, The Ugly Duckling, Heidi, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland are among the objects in the museum’s collection. Pinocchio’s oldest known toy is one of the important works exhibited in the museum.

In the museum garden, there is a workshop building independent of the museum building, a Theater Stage where fairy‑tale readings and literary talks are organized.