Istanbul Railway Museum

About Istanbul Railway Museum

A museum in Istanbul, Turkey

The Istanbul Railway Museum is a small museum inside the historic Sirkeci Terminal in the Sirkeci neighbourhood of Fatih, on the Golden Horn near Eminonu. It opened on 23 September 2005 and is owned and run by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD). The terminal itself was built in 1888 and opened in 1890 as the European terminus of the Orient Express from Paris; passengers bound further east crossed by ferry to Haydarpasa station on the Asian side for trains to Baghdad, Damascus and the Crimea. In 145 square metres the museum displays around 300 historical items tracing Ottoman and modern Turkish railway history: parts of trains and stations, furniture and silver services from dining cars, station office equipment, the driver's cab of an electric suburban train, manufacturer plates from historic rolling stock, warning signs, a station clock and bell, and rare photographs and documents. In 2006 about 53,000 people visited, 31,000 of them foreign tourists. The visit is quick, but it gives a chance to admire the beautiful oriental hall of Sirkeci Terminal with its stained glass and ornament, one of the loveliest historic stations in the world.

Where:

Istanbul, Türkiye