Five museums open in Topkapı Palace's Darphane-i Amire complex after a seven-year restoration

The historic Darphane-i Amire (Imperial Mint) complex in the first courtyard of Istanbul's Topkapı Palace has reopened as a museum district after a seven-year restoration. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the opening ceremony on 24 October, and the museums have been open to visitors since 25 October.

Across 17,000 square metres, seven buildings and 46 halls have been arranged into five museums: Maps, Calligraphy, the Mint and Industrial Tools, the Imperial Arsenal (Esliha-i Hümayun) and Palace Porcelain. The displays include 10,500 works from the Topkapı inventory, among them more than 2,000 calligraphic pieces and over 2,500 military items, including the sword and armoured shirt of Sultan Mehmed II.

The complex will also host the National Palaces Research Centre, with a library and digital archive of more than 800,000 written and visual sources. Two of the mint's buildings are reserved for temporary exhibitions and events by artists and civil society groups.

In his speech Erdoğan stressed that Ottoman-Turkish heritage is the product of a long cultural and intellectual development rather than chance, and said the aim is to preserve it with care, enrich it and hand it on to future generations. The palace's manuscript and printed works library is also planned to move into three buildings in the complex.