The Istanbul Archaeological Museum is located next to the Gulhane Park and Topkapi Palace and consists of three museums - the main building, the Museum of the Ancient East and the Tiled Pavilion - and contains more than a million exhibits from various eras.
The museum was founded at the end of the 19th century on the initiative of the prominent Turkish painter and archaeologist Osman Hamdi Bey. The opening of the museum took place in 1891.
The building, which is currently occupied by the Museum of the Ancient East, originally housed the School of Fine Arts. It was later redesigned as a museum, which opened in 1935. In 1963, the Museum of the Ancient East was closed to the public and, after restoration, was reopened in 1974.
The tiled pavilion was erected back in 1472 by order of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror and is one of the oldest monuments of Ottoman architecture preserved in Istanbul. From 1885 to 1891, the Imperial Museum was located in its premises, then from 1953 it housed a museum of Turkish and Islamic art, later included in the complex of the archaeological museum.
The exposition of the museum contains an impressive number of priceless exhibits.