Vakıflar Carpet and Rug Museum

Vakıflar Carpet and Rug Museum was opened by the General Directorate of foundations in Sultanahmet borough of Fatih district in 1979. A wide variety is dizzying in the museum, bringing together a large collection of carpets in the Hünkar Summer Palace section of the Sultanahmet Mosque with its visitors.

As an ancient Islamic tradition, a large selection of carpet donations made by the people to mosques and small mosques are exhibited in this museum. The museum displays carpets of high historical value woven between the 14th and 20th centuries belonging to the foundation's collection, each reflecting the patterns and craftsmanship of its period and region.

On the second floor of the museum, relatively small-sized carpets are displayed chronologically compared to the large-sized carpets displayed on the ground floor.

Carpets are exhibited in three different galleries in the area where the ambient conditions and exhibition areas have been perfectly designed following museum standards. The first gallery, where carpets belonging to the principalities and the early, classical Ottoman period, is exhibited, followed by the second gallery with carpets and prayer rugs of Middle and Eastern Anatolia. There are large-sized Uşak carpets and pure carpet prayer rugs belonging to the Ottoman period in the last gallery. 

The summer palace, which houses the only Carpet Museum in Turkey where only carpets are exhibited, was built in 1609-1617 and survived to the present day after various restoration works.