The Archeological Museum in Istanbul is most notable, in my view, for two reasons: the admirable history of its creation and the value of its collections. Its beginnings are linked to the name, life and work of the reputed Turkish intellectual Hamdi Bey, in the late 19th c. Regarded as the true founder of the Archeological Museum, Hamdi Bey was the author of the law of Conservation of Antiquities in Turkey as well as the founder of the School of Fine Arts, 1877; he himself an artist, museologist, archeologist, Hamdi Bey conducted the excavations at Sidon of a group of sarcophagi, among them Alexander (the Great) Sarcophagus displayed in the museum.
The second reason for visiting the museum is the importance and quality of the collections, which make it the finest antiquities museum in the world. The museum collections were exhibited at first in the Empire Museum, Cinili Kiosk, in itself a fine example of Islamic secular architecture. In the picture, the courtyard of the Museum and a lateral side of Cinili Kiosk.