History



The Museum is located on the northern shore of Golden Horn, Hasköy neighbourhood of Beyoğlu. It lies on three seperate parts of around 27000 square meters.


Open Air Display Area


This section is reserved for large scale and durable objects such as a submarine, ferry boat, planes and an impressive floating sheerlegs.


Historical Hasköy Dockyard


Due to the inadequacy of space for showcasing the collections of the museum, Hasköy Dockyard, which was in ruins, was bought in 1996. The dockyard was in front of the museum, on the shore of the Golden Horn. This historical dockyard had been founded in 1861 by the Ottoman Sea Line Company (Şirket-i Hayriye) for the maintenance and repairing of their ships. 14 ruined buildings that surround three sides of the land were restored keeping their original structure. Workbenches of historical sled and train were brought to working conditions and in 2001 were opened for visitors in the dockyard part of the museum.


Mustafa V. Koç Building


Lengerhane is the first building of the Museum. In 1991, the building was bought and restored by Rahmi M. Koç Museology and Culture Foundation. After a meticulous restoration an underground gallery was added to the original building and in December 1994 the Museum opened its doors for visitors.

This old Ottoman anchor house was founded during the reign of Sultan Ahmet the Third (1703-1730) on the bases of a Byzantium building from the 12th century and now it is considered as a second-tier historical trace. “Lenger” means “anchor and chain”, “hane” means “house”.

In 2016 the building was renamed after Mustafa V. Koç by a family ceremony.