Istanbul Maritime Museum / TEGET

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Text description provided by the architects. The architectural competition for the museum was first announced in 2004 and the evaluation was completed in September, the same year. Most of the prominent architectural firms submitted their proposals as the problem was challenging as well as a prestigous one. It stands as a singular opportunity, when it comes to build a contemporary structure on Bosphorus, where strict conservation rules have been observed both by Bosphorus Legislative Department and National Monuments Council. The former Maritime Museum was in service then, in the same location, with a conglomeration of adopted buildings piled up from different periods. Apart from a wide range of materials like ship models, maps, photographs, navigation tools, outfits etc, the most striking aspect of the collection –and apparently the most spacious- was the part where about 40 Ottoman Sultan boats were exhibited in fairly miserable conditions. Ranging from 45 meters to 10, dating from 1500’s to 1900’s, this has been probably the most intriguing collection among its relatives throughout the world. The task was to propose a new exhibition scheme for the same site, preserving one –from 1940’s-of the existing buildings, as designated by the Monuments Council. The lot in Beşiktaş, by the Bosphorus aligned with Ottoman Palaces, offered  a very limited space with a set of difficulties to design and build; on the other hand, offering a symbolic strength to such a location surrounded by intense metropolitan life and monuments like Bosphorus, Palaces, Sinan Mosque and Barbaros –Ottoman Admiral once very famous in the whole Mediterranian Region- Square with the Statue and the Tomb.