Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) is located in the mansion known as “Atlı Köşk” (Horse Mansion). Atlı Köşk, which was bought by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in 1950, currently houses the main collection of the museum. The mansion was bequeathed to the Sabancı University, along with the collections and its furniture in 1998, to be turned into a museum. A modern gallery wing was added to the original structure, and the Museum was opened to the public in 2002. The exhibition space was expanded in 2005 and upgraded to meet international museum standards.

SSM now offers a multi-facetted museum environment with its rich collections, the temporary international exhibitions it hosts, conservation units and exemplary educational programs; as well as the concerts, conferences and seminars it organizes.

The collections displayed at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum fall into three categories:
Calligraphy; Painting; Archeological and Stone Works and Furniture and Decorative Arts.

The Calligraphy Collection offers a comprehensive overview of the 500 years of Ottoman calligraphy, with rare Korans, kıtas, albums, panels, hilyes, edicts, endowments deeds and menşurs. In 2009, Sakıp Sabancı Museum has acquired new works for the Ottoman Calligraphy Collections which it had kept enhancing in line with its collection strategy, and the new works of the collections met the visitors at the Ottoman Calligraphy Halls in the Mansion section, with their displays renewed in 2009.

The Painting Collection of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum is comprised of works dating between 1850 and 1950.
The collection includes the most distinguished examples of Turkish painting, as well as works of foreign artists who lived in Istanbul during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

While the Collection of Archeological and Stone Works, consisting of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman pieces, is exhibited in the garden; the three ground floor rooms of the Atlı Köşk display the 18th and 19th century furniture and decorations used by the Sabancı Family while the mansion was their personal residence.

Exhibitions Held at SSM

SSM has been hosting a great number of exhibitions since its opening in the year 2002.

Besides the history-themed exhibitions such as “From the Medicis to the Savoias Ottoman Splendour in Florentine Collections,” “The Art of the Book from East to West and Memories of the Ottoman World Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon,” “Genghis Khan and His Heirs, The Great Mongol Empire” and “Istanbul, Isfahan, Delhi: Three Capitals of Islamic Art Masterpieces from the Louvre Collection”, grand retrospectives about the prominent masters of modern art, such as “Picasso in Istanbul”, “Great Master of Sculpture Rodin in Istanbul”, and “Salvador Dalí, A Surrealist in Istanbul” were exhibited at the Museum.

The Museum maintained its distinctive exhibition programme with many innovations during 2009, as well. Following the exhibition “Travel to the West - 70 Years of Turkish Painting (1860 - 1930)”, which focused on the rich history of the Turkish painting art created by our painters born during the 19th century, including Osman Hamdi Bey, İbrahim Çallı, Feyhaman Duran and Namık İsmail; the exhibition “Lisbon: Memories from Another City”, introduced the viewers with the works of the major Portuguese artists from the period covering late 19th century and early 20th  depicting Lisbon, a city which is both distant and yet so close to us, was held. Additionally, the exhibition “Flow” showcasing the three years of work of the students of Visual Communications Design Programme of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the Sabancı University; and the exhibition “Joseph Beuys and His Students - Works From The Deutsche Bank Collection”, which gathered together the works of Joseph Beuys, the pioneer of modern arts, and his Students during the Istanbul Biennale, were organized at the Museum. The Museum also hosted the first event of the 2010 European Capital of Culture, the exhibition “Venice and Istanbul during the Ottoman Period; Love, by any other name”. 

The exhibition includes selected works from the museums of Venice, as well as works chosen from the Topkapı Palace Museum, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Pera Museum, and Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum. Witnessing the experiences at the Istanbul end during a period of deep historical, social and commercial relationships, works from museums in Turkey representing a shared past accompany the works from Venice. Thus, the exhibition displays the panorama of close diplomatic, military, commercial and artistic relations between the two cities, along with their deeply intertwined reciprocal influence.

Overseas Exhibitions Held by SSM

In addition to hosting various exhibitions on its grounds, the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum has been able to promote its collections by lending works of art to other venues outside the country.

The museum has loaned works to exhibitions such as “Mothers, Goddesses and Sultanas” (2004-2005) held in Brussels, “Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600” (2006) held in London and “Istanbul: The City and the Sultan” (2006-2007) in Amsterdam. However, it has been the exhibitions made up entirely of its own collections and hosted by prestigious museums around the world that have brought the Sakıp Sabancı Museum into the international arena.

The Sakıp Sabancı Museum could be represented on an “international basis,” in the very sense of the term, only through the exhibitions it has held at reputable museums abroad with its own collections. Following the exhibitions during the years 2007 and 2008, “Evocations, Passages, Atmospheres and Paintings from the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul” at the Lisbon Gulbenkian Museum, “Letters in Gold: The Ottoman Art of Calligraphy from Sakıp Sabancı Museum” at the Madrid’s Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, and
“The Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp  Sabancı Museum” at the Real Alcázar in Seville, Sakıp Sabancı Museum participated with works it has loaned from its collections in the exhibition “From Byzantium to Istanbul: One Port for Two Continents” held at the Grand Palais in Paris within the framework of the events of Turkish Season in France during 2009.

Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery

Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery were inaugurated for visitors on October 1, 2009. The Sakıp Sabancı City Museum aims to display and introduce the urban formation and culture of life in the city of Mardin; while the Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery aspires to establish a modern and contemporary art platform in Mardin through temporary exhibitions.

Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery has been hosting for one year an exhibition titled “Nature, Man and the Sea - With Works Selected from the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection”. The exhibition includes 75 works by 47 artists, and shines light on the history of Turkish painting from its beginnings to recent times, through works by artists such as Hikmet Onat, İbrahim Safi, Şeref Akdik, Abidin Dino, Adnan Çoker, and Selma Gürbüz, comprising a vast period.

Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Dilek Sabancı Art Gallery have already been visited by 30,000 people as of the end of 2009.

SSM Education Activities

The extensive educational programs that were initiated during the Picasso exhibition were also continued in 2009 with enhancements in terms of number, diversity, and contents. During the year, special workshops and child training programs were held for both children and adults. The total number of students who attended the 2009 workshop is 15,745. In 2009, The Special Event Days were held and five different events were organized for the first time between April and December 2009.  2,320 women were reached in nine months, within the scope of the social responsibility project “Meeting the City, Meeting the Museum,” the only private museum project approved by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. In order to support the current exhibitions, film projections, conferences, gallery talks with the students of the Sabancı University, and guided tours are organized, and the Neighbour’s Day events continue at the Museum.

IIC - The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Istanbul Congress 2010

The collection and evaluation of the proposals for poster and statements to be submitted to the IIC - The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works 2010 Congress with the theme “Conservation and the Eastern Mediterranean”, which will be hosted by the Sakıp Sabancı Museum during 20-24 September 2010, were completed in 2009. The preparations for the Congress have been accelerated.