2009

Islands Museum Project

Istanbul is one of the world's oldest, most beautiful metropolises. Indeed, the Princes' Islands are among the foremost elements of the city confirming the truth of this statement.
Today, as in the past, the Princes' Islands are the most important symbol of Istanbul life, thanks to their unique natural, historical, and multicultural heritage. And it is for the purpose of documenting, preserving, and passing on to future generations this very same heritage that the Islands Museum, a city museum, is being established.

Located on the island of Büyükada, the museum will be inaugurated in July 2010. the Islands Museum Project will operate in conjunction with both the Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar House on the island Heybeliada and the Sait Faik Museum on Burgazada, once restoration of both has been completed.
The Islands Museum Project is a collaborative project of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency and the Islands Foundation, with the Islands Municipality also a contributing partner.
Around 40 specialists from various universities have actively been taking part in the efforts to establish the Islands Museum, efforts which have been underway since March 2009. In addition to the specialists, local volunteers from the Islands, both those presently living in Turkey as well as those hailing from the Islands but currently residing in other countries, have contributed greatly to the museum with their impressive knowledge and collections, and most certainly will continue to do so.

Istanbul's first city museum

In a fast changing and fast decaying world, city museums, which record the present for future generations and the past generations for today, serve as a bridge between the past and the future. Indeed, the aim of the Islands Museum is to preserve and pass down to future generations a record of the past and the present of the Islands' cultural, historical, and natural heritage.

In its narration of life on the Islands from the past to the present, the museum highlights people, with all their stories and in all their creativity. This is because the experiences of people from the islands, who have lived together harmoniously for centuries as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious community, should serve as an example for other diverse communities throughout the world.
The Islands are the most important symbol of Istanbul, the European Capital of Culture, where different cultures continue to coexist. The museum will use the latest technology to present every instant of life in the Islands; their stories, songs, architecture, and nature. This cultural heritage, having been recorded and inventoried, will reinvigorate communication between the generations.
The information and data necessary to put together the story of the Islands from the beginning to the present day is being collected by means of scientific research, the labor of specialists, and the support of universities. Research to further enrich the Islands Museum collection continues in Ottoman and state archives, libraries, and relevant foreign archives and libraries.
The search for content for the Islands Museum is proceeding along three lines:
- Study of existing relevant literature
- Interviews with local people from the Islands and the collection of narrative oral histories
- Searching for relevant material in corporate and personal archives

What kind of a museum?

As a city museum, the Islands Museum will be a comfortable, welcoming space. Conducive to interaction with visitors, it will constantly be enriched by new discoveries, new additions to the documentation of the islands' history, past and present.

Visitors coming to the museum will see exhibits displayed chronologically or thematically. The exhibitions, which will be organized according to the flow of time or according to particular subjects, will be kept as permanent exhibitions telling the story of the Islands.
As for temporary exhibitions, they will be organized two or three times a year. Since these exhibitions will be focused on a single theme, each will provide in-depth information about the particular subject that is its theme. Perhaps most importantly, the temporary exhibitions will offer visitors a reason to come back again and again, to learn about the new information and documents, the new films and studies that the museum has to offer.
The Islands Museum will also feature visiting exhibitions originating from various city museums and thematic museums from all over the world.

Departments and activities of the museum

The titles of the museum's departments and activities are as follows:
Exhibitions, library, archives, cultural tours, children's and educational programs, volunteer groups, publications, student scholarships, cafeteria, restaurant, and shop.

A museum bounded by the sea

The Islands Museum Project will be active mainly in the Island House and in other locations on Büyükada, but also in the Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar House on Heybeliada and in the Sait Faik Museum on Burgazada. However, the museum's exhibition spaces are not limited to these. The squares, streets, piers, and other important living and meeting spaces of the Islands will also serve as exhibition and activity spaces. In other words, the museum will be bounded by the sea, a museum which stretches from shore to shore of each of the Princes' Islands.
The aim is to turn the Islands into "Museum Islands," an honor they have deserved for a long time now.

Who is working on which exhibitions?

In addition to the numerous dedicated volunteers working for the Islands Museum Project, around 40 academics and specialists are also working to prepare exhibitions, with the help of special teams assembled for this very purpose. Thanks to the participation of these specialists, who come from the most esteemed universities and cultural institutions of Turkey, visitors can be certain that the content of the museum presents an unbiased and accurate account of history.

Titles of the exhibitions and the specialists working for them:

Permanent exhibitions organized chronologically

The physical and social transformation undergone by the Princes' Islands, from the past to the present, will be narrated by means of permanent exhibitions in which items are displayed according to the flow of time.
1- The formation of the Islands
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Naci Görür, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sakınç
Working team: Prof. Dr. Namık Çağatay, Prof. Dr. Remzi Akkök, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Levent Eren, Asst. Prof. Dr. Cengiz Zapçı, Vice-Associate Prof. Dr. Cenk Yaltırık.
2- The Islands in pre-historic, Greek, and Roman times
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necmi Karul
Consultants: Prof. Dr. Erendiz Özbayoğlu, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Özdoğan
3- Byzantine times
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Asnu Bilban Yalçın
4- Ottoman times
Supervisor: İrfan Dağdelen
General consultant: Prof. Dr. Edhem Eldem
5- Republican times
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Murat Belge

Permanent thematic exhibitions

These exhibitions cover themes having to do with the details and stages of the natural and social life of the Islands, such as architecture, population movements, transportation, flora & fauna, famous inhabitants, shopping traditions, and even food and touring courses, all of which and more will be explained by means of thematically organized permanent exhibitions.

1- Architecture on the Islands
Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elvan Altan Ergut, Dr. Alev Erkmen, Dr. Hasan Kuruyazıcı
2- Population changes and migrations
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Murat Güvenç
3- The flora & fauna of the Islands / The past and present of marine life
Supervisor for flora & fauna: Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sakınç
Supervisor for marine life: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüsamettin Balkıs
Consultant: Orhan Erdenen (former Islands Municipality Department Chief, expert on the history of Istanbul, author of the book The Islands of Istanbul).

4- Transportation to the Islands / Transportation within the Islands
Colonel Ali Rıza İşipek, Commander of the Navy Museum, will be consulted on the subjects of sea transportation and of aquatic sports.
Captain Didem Özdarcan will be consulted on the subject of the Heybeliada Navy High School.
5- Famous people from the Islands
Since the Islands have been the preferred resort and residential location of Istanbul for about the last century and a half, they have also served as the permanent or temporary residence of many famous people. In addition to hosting famous people from Turkey and from the rest of the world, the Islands have also been the birthplace of numerous famous people.
*Painters from the Islands
Supervisor: Balkan Naci İslimyeli
Support: Sühendan İlal, Talin Etyemez
*Musicians from the Islands
Supervisor: Prof. Ruhi Ayangil
*Writers from the Islands and the Islands' in literature
Supervisor: Dr. Sevengül Sönmez
*Famous people from the Islands
Supervisor: Ahmet Tanrıverdi
6. The master-apprentice tradition and artisans on the Islands
Supervisor: Uğraş Salman
7. Flavors from the Islands
Supervisor: Aylin Öney Tan
Consultants: Sula Bozis, Ahmet Tanrıverdi
8. Current urban information
The museum is expected to serve also as a forum.
9. Museum buildings
10. Tour routes
Routes are being set up for tours of various lengths which aim to assist visitors looking to discover the culture and nature of the Islands. Work to list and provide information about noteworthy buildings and historic and natural features visible along these routes continues.

The first temporary exhibition of the Islands Museum Project

DAILY LIFE ON THE ISLANDS
Curator: Gökhan Akçura

As the Islands Museum Project's first temporary exhibition, "Daily Life on the Islands" is more general in character than future temporary exhibitions will be. Whereas future exhibitions will present in-depth analysis of a more specific subject, this exhibition narrates a broad span of history, telling the story of 150 years of life on the Islands.

Transportation to and from the Islands
Transportation from Istanbul to the Islands, past and present. The history of ferry trips, of ferry passengers and famous ferries. Ferry schedules from various periods.
The Islands and tourism
Hotels and Island hospitality traditions from the past to the present. Hotel advertisements, price lists, and postcards from yore...
Amusements on the Islands
Fairs, festivities, festivals, dances, parties, special days, and the Flower Festival, which is particular to the Islands.
Theater and cinema on the Islands...
Theaters and cinemas established on the Islands in various periods, and stories related to them.
The Islands and their beaches
The famous beaches of the Islands, beach beauties, the fame and evolution of beaches, stories of life on the beaches, camping on the beach.
Gossip from the past, in the Islands' press
The Islands have had their own sophisticated press since the late 19th century. And of course here too we find that inevitable result of the marriage of the media and "High Society": paparazzi and gossipy news...
The animals of the Islands
Donkeys, mules, horses, cats, dogs, seagulls, crows...
Shopping
Scenes from the shopping districts in the Islands. Shop and restaurant stories...
8 mm. films shot on the Islands
Life on the Islands in times of yore, as seen in 8 millimetre home movies.
Portraits from the Islands
Fascinating and beloved characters from the Islands