A Day with Kültür AŞ, from a Byzantine Cistern to an Open-Air Stage

The Şerefiye Cistern is one of the oldest water structures on the historic peninsula. It has no building inscription, but its architecture dates it to the reign of Theodosius II (408-450). A crowded city with little water of its own, and one that had to survive sieges, stored its water in structures like this; according to the cistern's official website, the great covered cisterns such as Şerefiye and the Basilica Cistern mainly supplied the Great Palace and the buildings around it.

Down the stairs you enter a hall of roughly 24 by 40 metres. The ceiling rises 11 metres and rests on 32 columns and 45 sail vaults. Look closely at the capitals: these Corinthian capitals decorated with acanthus leaves were not collected from older buildings but carved specially for the cistern from Marmara Island marble. The walls are about 2.5 metres thick and their corners are curved to withstand the pressure of the water.

The cistern takes its name from the Ottoman neighbourhood it lay in. In the late 19th or early 20th century the Arif Paşa mansion was built on top of it; the building served as the city prefecture in 1912, as Istanbul's municipal headquarters from 1930 to 1984 and then as the Eminönü municipal building. The cistern stayed little known beneath it until 2010, when the later additions of the municipal building were demolished and it was uncovered. Once the concrete buildings around it were cleared, the site became a small archaeological park.

Inside it is cool and damp, so a light layer helps even in summer. Concerts ranging from classical Turkish music to Baroque are held in the cistern from time to time; if you would like to catch one, check the programme on kultur.istanbul.

Source: Şerefiye Sarnıcı resmi sitesi; Wikipedia.

The Panorama 1453 History Museum stands in Topkapı Kültür Parkı, a park laid out where the old Thrace bus station used to be, facing the stretch of walls where the siege was fiercest. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality began building it in 2005, finished it in 2008 and opened it in 2009. Before going in, stop in front of the museum and look around: as the official website describes it, the Edirnekapı walls are on your left, the Topkapı walls straight ahead and the Silivrikapı walls on your right.

The real work is the panoramic painting that covers the inside of a hemisphere 38 metres across. Between the 2,350 square metre painting and the visitor platform lies a 650 square metre three-dimensional zone with replica cannons, gun carriages and powder barrels. The painting holds some 10,000 figures, and because the sky continues seamlessly as a dome, your eye finds no frame and no end point. That is why the first moments on the platform feel so disorienting. The idea and the project coordination came from the painter Haşim Vatandaş, and the painting took eight artists three years to complete.

Do not skip the exhibition before the platform: it tells the story from the founding of the city to the siege and the conquest with miniatures, engravings and paintings. At the entrance and on the lower floor hang the portraits of 36 sultans from Osman Gazi to Vahdettin, and at the exit the conquest miniatures of the contemporary illuminator Nusret Çolpan. The artists painted some details knowing they could not be made out from 14 metres away; a good traveller takes a second, slower look at the small figures near the horizon. Pushchairs cannot go up to the platform and should be left at the entrance.

Source: Panorama 1453 Tarih Müzesi resmi sitesi; Wikipedia.

Miniatürk, on the northern shore of the Golden Horn, was opened by Kültür AŞ on 2 May 2003 under the slogan A Small Model of a Great Country, and it soon became one of the first stops on Istanbul tours for local and foreign visitors alike. By the official website's figures, 15,000 square metres of a 60,000 square metre park display models of 138 architectural works reduced to 1:25 scale: 62 from Istanbul, 64 from Anatolia and 13 from former Ottoman lands now outside Turkey. Among the caravanserais, bridges, railway stations, castles, mosques and palaces you will also find the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, neither of which stands today.

This stop links nicely with the rest of the day. The walls and gates you saw painted at Panorama 1453 in the morning can be compared here as a bird's-eye model, and in the Anatolian section you can get a sense of the proportions of buildings you have not yet visited. Touching the models is not allowed, photography is; tripods and professional shoots need permission.

The official mobile app describes the works with an audio guide in nine languages and also shows the province and location of each original in Turkey. There is municipal WiFi on site, but you are advised to download the app before you come. With children, the little train, remote-controlled boats, maze, chess area and playground will stretch your break. The site is in the open air, so bring a hat and water on sunny days and a rain jacket on wet ones. Allow an hour and a half here, then walk next door to the Digital Experience Centre. You can ask at the ticket office about the combined ticket for both venues.

Source: Miniatürk resmi sitesi.

The Digital Experience Centre opened in February 2024 and Kültür AŞ describes it as Turkey's first full-scale digital experience centre. According to its official website it sits in Sütlüce, right next to Miniatürk, and spreads several separate experience rooms across 2,000 square metres; the site stresses that original content developed by Turkish software developers and designers is also shown here.

The visit begins in the Digital Room, with interactive screens, sensors and projections. The most talked-about space is the Immersive Experience Room: the walls and floor of the 400 square metre hall are covered in 360 degrees by 30 4K projectors, and visitors walk inside the image. In the 92 square metre Virtual Reality Room ten people can move together through the same virtual world; this experience is bought in addition to the entry ticket. The 70 square metre Augmented Reality Room has LED screens on its walls, ceiling and floor, and in the Digital Corridor at the exit the projections respond to your movements.

The content changes from exhibition to exhibition. The archive includes shows on Van Gogh and Nikola Tesla, and in summer 2026 an exhibition devoted to Japanese art was on; check what is showing before you go. The official website notes that the virtual reality experience is not recommended for visitors under 8 or over 70, and that some rooms are unsuitable for pregnant visitors, people with heart or circulatory conditions or a history of epilepsy. On weekdays school groups are received until around midday. Large suitcases are not allowed and there are no lockers. The centre also has an İstanbul Kitapçısı bookshop and a café area.

Source: Dijital Deneyim Merkezi resmi sitesi.

Taksim Sanat is Kültür AŞ's public exhibition space. It sits at the entrance to Taksim Metro Station, on level -1; the official address is Tak-ı Zafer Caddesi in Gümüşsuyu. An İstanbul Kitapçısı bookshop used to occupy this space, and the gallery at the back went largely unnoticed. After a renovation of four to five months the space reopened in 2018 as Taksim Sanat. The opening show was Resmemaneti, a selection from the municipality's painting collection curated by Mehmet Lütfi Şen.

The gallery's priority is young and independent artists. As Kültür AŞ puts it, the aim is to help artists meet their audience directly and take their first steps in the art world, while also hosting shows by established names. The third edition of the Genç Buluşmalar exhibition, for example, brought together 131 works by 44 young artists from fine arts faculties in cities across Turkey. Workshops for children and adults are also organised around the exhibitions. Kültür AŞ also lists performance art, digital art, talk series, open calls and collaborations with art collectives among the gallery's goals.

What earns this place its spot on the route is its location. Standing in the path of the crowds going down to and coming up from the metro, the gallery is, in Kültür AŞ's words, where some visitors meet contemporary art for the very first time. The space is not large, so half an hour is enough. Read the labels, see which schools the artists come from and try to guess whom you will see in the next big exhibition. The programme changes, so check what is on at kultur.istanbul. From here you walk to Harbiye along Cumhuriyet Caddesi.

Source: kultur.istanbul, Taksim Sanat sayfası ve haberleri; Arkeolojik Haber.

The Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre lies in the Dolmabahçe valley, a semicircle of stepped seating facing a flat stage in the manner of ancient theatres. The idea goes back to the city plan that the urban planner Henri Prost drew up for Istanbul in the 1930s. The design is by Nihat Yücel and Nahit Uysal; the foundation stone was laid in July 1946, when Lütfi Kırdar was governor and mayor, and the opening ceremony took place on 9 August 1947. The stage reached its final form on the advice of Carl Ebert, then working at the Ankara State Conservatory, and the remaining work was only finished in 1950. The first production staged here was Sophocles' Oedipus the King. In 1958 the theatre was named after Cemil Topuzlu, who was mayor of Istanbul during the Second Constitutional period.

The facades combine limestone and Uzunköprü stone to create a play of colour, and the seating steps are of Uzunköprü stone. Capacity figures differ slightly between sources, at around 4,000. In the middle of the auditorium there is a projection booth for film and slide shows, and the stage was made wide enough for 200 to 300 extras to move freely.

Today this is the city's best-known address for summer concerts. The open-air season announced by Kültür AŞ starts in late spring and runs into autumn. You will be sitting on stone steps, so bring a thin cushion, and a cardigan for the evening chill. Arrive early before the concert and look down at the valley and the stage from the upper rows; that is where the theatre's plan reads best. Check the night's programme and ticket availability on kultur.istanbul.

Source: Wikipedia; kultur.istanbul, Harbiye Açık Hava etkinlikleri.