Sakıp Sabancı Museum

The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (Turkish: Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi) is a private fine arts museum in Istanbul, Turkey, dedicated to calligraphic art, religious and state documents, as well as paintings of the Ottoman era. The museum was founded by Sakıp Sabancı, and was opened in June 2002. Aside from permanent exhibitions, the museum also hosts national and foreign temporary exhibitions and, hosts cultural events on the weekends.

Recently the museum gained worldwide attention when it exhibited the works of Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin.

History of the mansion

The historical building belonged to several high ranked pasha families and khedives, Egyptian governors, from 1848 until 1884, when it was purchased by the Ottoman Treasury on the orders of Sultan Abdülhamid II and presented as a gift to King Nicola I of Montenegro. The mansion served the next 30 years as a royal residence and embassy of Montenegro. In 1913, the Ottoman government repossessed it, which became home to the granddaughter of Sultan Mehmed V Reşad. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Prince Mehmed Ali Hasan, grandson of Khedive İsmail Paşa, purchased the then derelict house and commissioned the architect Edouard de Nari to build the present house. However, it remained unused for many years until the elder sister of the Egyptian prince made it her home in 1944.

In 1951 Hacı Ömer Sabancı, father of Sakıp Sabancı and founder of Sabancı Holding, purchased the mansion for spending summer months with his family. Inside the entrance gate of his mansion, he placed the bronze statue of a horse, he purchased at an auction. The sculpture was designed by Louis-Joseph Daumas in Paris in 1864 and cast by Vor Thiebaut. The house became popularly known as Atlı Köşk (Equestrian Villa). He and his family lived in the mansion until his decease in 1966. The mansion was home to Sakıp Sabancı and family between 1969 and 1999.

The mansion was leased in 1998 for a period of 49 years to Sabancı University along with all the antique furnishings and art collections. Today, the original mansion and a modern gallery annex host extensive art collections of 19th and 20th century.

Collection

Hacı Ömer Sabancı began collecting decorative art works consisting of figurines, metalwork, porcelain, objets d'art and furniture in 1940. Sakıp Sabancı expanded the art collection of his father since 1970. The collection includes 18th and 19th century Chinese porcelain Famille noire and Famille verte, polychrome vases and decorated plates. An impressive collection of 19th century French porcelain, including large numbers of Sèvres vases, and German porcelain produced in Berlin and Vienna are among the most valuable items in the collection.

The collection of calligraphy consisting of nearly 400 pieces offers a comprehensive view of Ottoman calligraphic art over a period of 500 years, with manuscript Korans and prayer books, calligraphic panels, decrees, imperial documents, declarations, imperial seals, poetry books and calligraphic tools.

More than 320 selected paintings of Ottoman and Republican era belonging to Sabancı painting collection are on display, the works of notable Ottoman and Turkish artists like Osman Hamdi Bey, İbrahim Çallı, Halil Paşa, Nazmi Ziya Güran, Şeker Ahmet Paşa, Fikret Mualla and European artists like Fausto Zonaro and Ivan Ayvazovsky who lived and worked in the Ottoman Empire, either independently or as court pai

Items memorizing Sakıp Sabancı as pictures taken with personalities and statespersons, decorations and medals and some personal belongings are also on show.

Temporary exhibitions

Temporary exhibitions that have taken place in and have left from the museum are listed below in chronological order:

(27.06.2003 - 05.05.2004) Partnership of Power: Artifacts from the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Man and Horse

(21.12.2003 - 18.04.2004) From the Medicis to the Savoias: Ottoman Splendour in Florentine Collections

(12.05.2004 - 24.10.2004) Paris - St. Petersburg: Three Centuries of European Fashion from the Alexandre Vassiliev Collection

(24.05.2005 - 28.08.2005) Pieces gathered together from Topkapı Palace Museum's collection of European Porcelain at the Ottoman Palace

(13.07.2005 - 09.10.2005) Pieces gathered together from the collections of Austrian, English, Slovenian, Croatian and Turkish museums called The Image of Turks in Europe in the 17th Century.

(24.11.2005 - 26.03.2006) Picasso in Istanbul

(14.04.2006 - 28.05.2006) The Art of the Book from East to West and Memories of the Ottoman World: Masterpieces from the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon

(13.06.2006 - 03.09.2006) Master Sculptor Rodin in Istanbul

(07.12.2006 - 08.04.2007) Genghis Khan and His Heirs: The Great Mongol Empire

(19.04.2007 - 19.08.2007) In Praise of God: Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches, 1500–1750, and Kaitag Embroideries and Textile Art from the Daghestan

(08.09.2007 - 01.11.2007) Blind Date, Istanbul

(24.11.2007 - 27.01.2008) The World of Abidin Dino

(11.12.2007 - 02.03.2008) Lines in Gold Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul, in Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid

(18.02.2008 - 01.06.2008) Istanbul, Isfahan and Delhi: Three Capitals of Islamic Masterpieces from the Louvre Collection

(04.04.2008 - 15.06.2008) Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Real Alcázar, Sevilla

(20.09.2008 - 01.02.2009) Salvador Dalí: A Surrealist in Istanbul

(16.04.2009 - 30.06.2009) Travel to the West: 70 Years of Turkish Painting

(14.05.2009 - 02.08.2009) Lisbon: Memories from Another City

(10.08.2009 - 20.08.2009) Flow

(09.09.2009 - 01.11.2009) Joseph Beuys and His Students: Works From the Deutsche Bank Collection

(19.11.2009 - 20.03.2010) Venice and Istanbul during the Ottoman Period: Love by any other name

(15.04.2010 - 27.06.2010) Transcending Borders With Brush and Pen: Selected Works of Eastern and Western Calligraphy