Beykoz Glass Museum awaits visitors

The Beykoz Glass and Crystal Museum, which opened on April 9 with an official ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after restoration works, is now awaiting visitors.

The museum, which was established to introduce Turkish glass art to the world in a closed area of approximately 3,000 square meters and on an area of 390,000 square meters, is home to 1,500 artifacts from the Seljuk era to the end of the Ottoman period.

The building, which takes its name from the Beykoz Glass and Billurât Fabrika-i Hümayunu in the Ottoman period, was built by Abraham Pasha, who was appointed by Sultan Abdülaziz as a vizier.

The building, which was a barn and has survived to the present day after its construction, was restored by the National Palaces in three years.

The museum, where works produced in Europe for the Ottoman palaces are also exhibited, consists of 12 thematic sections. Among them the Kubadabad plate draws significant attention. It is made with the free blowing technique and decorated with enamel and gilding, dating back to 1237-1246.

Built with modern museum criteria, the museum presents visitors Mamluk lamps, Ottoman arches, European glasses, glass garden, crystal piano and the sultanate car of the Sultan Mahmud II, decorated with colored glass.

A library on glass art was also established in the museum. The library with 600 works in Turkish and foreign languages, a temporary exhibition area, an educational workshop for children, a café offering outstanding tastes and a gift office where glass works are offered for sale have also been put into service.

The forest field within the museum area is a kind of botanical museum as it is hosting 117 different tree species.

The museum can be visited between...