Museum of Innocence

This place is an extraordinary place to spend a couple of hours absorbing the ambience. You need to get the recorded tour device which is only 10 lira (50 cents US) as to just walk through looking at the cabinets would not tell you anything. The place is like a 3-D film in turns poignant, melancholy, nostalgic, creepy, macabre and totally fascinating. It is part Valentine / part Memento Mori to an obsessive love affair.

The museum is a tribute to the book of the same name, and entrance is free to those who bring a copy of the book. For those who have not read the book, and those who have, it is probably best to get an audio-guide in addition to the ticket, as the author of the book gives poignant explanations of many of the exhibits.

It's been my dream to visit this museum since 2016 when I read the book for the first time. The museum is inspired by Orhan Pamuk's novel "Museum of innocence" which is the love story of Kemal and Fusun. All the items mentioned in the book are carefully picked ( as the author says in the audio), organized, and displayed in the boxes in order and by pressing the number of each box on the audioguide you can listen to the whole story of those items. The author has left some of the boxes empty until he finds the ones that match what he exactly has in his mind. Orhan Pamuk is such a fantastic, meticulous, and detail-oriented author. As I was reading the book I could smell Linder flowers in the spring that Kemal met Fusun and Pamuk kept talking about it throughout the book, I could see and feel those curtains blown by the breeze. There was a box right at the beginning of the first floor that brings those moments to life. It was so real that I couldn't help crying! Visiting this museum was such a fantastic experience for me, whatever I was imagining while reading the book was all realized in the museum. The most impressive item for me was that purse that Kemal bought from Nisantasi for Sibel, his fiance, and that was where he met Fusun and fell in love with her. On the third floor, you can see Kemal's room and the bed on which he passed away and a sentence from Kemal on the wall reading" Let everyone know, I lived a very happy life". I was so impressed by the ambiance that I sat on the bench opposite the room and gazed at it for minutes. This museum has a soul, it will touch your heart! There were so many details and so many stories and feelings embodied in every single item that you have to visit by yourself to absorb that fantastic atmosphere. The museum is just a 12-minute walk away from Taksim Square and it's located in an old 3-story building whose color and architecture are in such great harmony with the novel. The entrance fee is 40 TL and you can get an audioguide for 10 TL. Even if you have not read the book yet, the explanations narrated by Orhan Pamuk will help you understand the story behind the museum.

I haven’t read the book, my mom did and she wanted to visit the museum. I was so impressed by how the author created a whole “real” world at the same time he created the book one. Everything, every piece and even the building has a story to tell. I don’t think you have to have read the book to enjoy it, the audio is super helpful and even as a standalone place is worthy. Be ready to be immersed in 70’s Istanbul, it really is a trip dowm memory lane.

A little hard to find. I listened to the audio/video downstairs and loved the book. A lot of thought and detail went into this. I enjoyed looking at the collection and appreciated the love story. If you are handicap I do not recommend as 3 flights of narrow stairs.