The Pera Museum (Pera Müzesi) occupies the former Hotel Bristol, built in 1893 in the Tepebaşı district, a short walk from [İstiklal Avenue](/fr/attractions/avenue-istiklal). Founded by the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, this private museum presents three permanent collections: Orientalist painting, Anatolian weights and measures, and Kütahya ceramics. Its most famous work is "The Tortoise Trainer" (Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi) by Osman Hamdi Bey. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions of art and photography. A full-price ticket costs 450 TL, and admission is free for everyone on Fridays from 6pm to 10pm (prices checked in October 2026). In autumn 2026, two temporary exhibitions are on show: the British painter Frank Bowling, until 31 January 2027, and "Cumhuriyetin Kamera Arkası" ("Behind the Camera of the Republic"), devoted to photojournalism and daily life in Istanbul in the early years of the Republic, until 28 March 2027. Allow an hour and a half to two hours for the collections and the current exhibitions.
Highlights
The Tortoise Trainer by Osman Hamdi Bey
Painted in 1906 and shown the same year at the Paris Salon in the Grand Palais, the picture shows an old man in a red robe, a flute behind his back, trying to train tortoises in front of a tiled wall. Osman Hamdi Bey, painter, archaeologist and founder of the [Istanbul Archaeology Museums](/fr/attractions/musee-archeologique-istanbul), slipped in an irony often read as a comment on the slow pace of Ottoman reform. The work is shown in the collection display devoted to the painter.
Ambassadors and painters
The collection exhibition "Intersecting Worlds: Ambassadors and Painters" brings together Orientalist paintings from the 17th to the 19th century: portraits of European ambassadors in Constantinople and of Ottoman envoys in Europe, palace receptions and views of the city. It tells the story of diplomacy between the Ottoman Empire and Europe through painting.
Anatolian weights and measures
Around 10,000 objects, from prehistory to the Republican period, make up this rare collection of weights, scales and measuring instruments from the successive civilisations of Anatolia. The sets of Ottoman weights in dirhams and okkas show how goods were weighed in the markets.
Kütahya ceramics
Tiles, ewers, cups and bowls painted in Kütahya, a major ceramics centre in Anatolia, trace the town's production up to 20th-century pieces. Their bright colours and floral motifs differ from the Iznik tiles seen in the mosques.
Infos pratiques
Tips
A ticket costs 450 TL full price, 250 TL reduced (students over 12, teachers, visitors aged 60 and over) and 300 TL per person for groups buying 10 or more tickets; prices checked in October 2026. Admission is free for everyone on Fridays from 6pm to 10pm, for students on Wednesdays, and all year round for children aged 12 and under, disabled visitors and one companion. The museum is wheelchair accessible and every floor is served by lift. The Pera Café, with its Art Deco decor, is good for a break. It is a good choice if you are looking for [things to do in Istanbul when it rains](/fr/articles/que-faire-a-istanbul-quand-il-pleut).
How to get there
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No: 65, 34430 Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Metro M2, Şişhane station: take the Şişhane exit and follow Meşrutiyet Caddesi. From Tünel Square, at the end of İstiklal Avenue (F2 funicular from Karaköy), it is a few minutes' walk. The [Galata Tower](/fr/attractions/tour-de-galata) is about ten minutes' walk downhill. Bus: Tepebaşı stop, near the British Consulate.
Opening hours
Nearby
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