The Rezan Has Museum is a private museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 dedicated to culture and arts. Rezan Has, spouse of the wealthy Turkish businessman Kadir Has, founded the museum in May 2007. The museum, situated in a historical building, is located in Cibali neighborhood of Fatih

Fatih

Fatih is a municipality and district in Istanbul, Turkey that encompasses most of the peninsula coinciding with historic Constantinople. In 2009, the district of Eminönü, formerly a separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was merged into Fatih...

 district on the southern shore of the Golden Horn

Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...

. It is open to public every day between 9–18 local time.

The museum possesses actually no collections, however, provides space for exhibitions within the Kadir Has University

Kadir Has University

Kadir Has University ' or as mostly preferred by its students ', was founded in 1997, in Istanbul. A private university, it has seven faculties, Engineering, Sciences and Humanities, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Communication, Law and Fine Arts, as well as its several vocational schools,...

's buiding, a European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage winning redevelopment from the historical "Cibali Tabacco Factory".

. The museum consists of a cistern

Cistern

A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...

 dating back to 11th century, called "Karanlık çeşme" (literally: "The Dark Fountain"), which is one of the few Byzantian

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 structures outside of the Walls of Constantinople

Walls of Constantinople

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...

 along Golden Horn. Another important part of the museum is a hamam ruin from the 17th century of the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 era, which is situated at the top of the cistern.

Exhibitions

The Rezan Has Museum hosts archological, cultural and arts exhibitions for limited times.

"Silent Witnesses From Neolithic Period to the Seljuks":
March 23, 2009-May 30, 2012

Archeological items found between the Golden Horn and Anatolia.

New Stories
September 15-November 20, 2011

Works of Mehmet Kutlu, a contemporary Turkish ceramic artists.

Like Moths to the Flame-The Ottoman Fire Brigades:
February 24-August 31, 2011

Devices and instruments used by the Ottoman fire brigades and historical photographs.

Whispers of the Lost Languages:
October 14, 2010-January 30, 2011

Archeological cuneiform script

Cuneiform script

Cuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...

 examples showing early writing system

Writing system

A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...

s.

Do You Know Hasankeyf?:
May 27-September 30, 2010

Photographs about Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf is an ancient town and district located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981...

.

The Centennial Tale of Turkish Painting II:
November 19, 2009-April 30, 2010