Military Museum

Overview

The Military Museum in Istanbul stands in Harbiye, just north of Taksim, in the buildings of the old Ottoman War School. Its halls hold about 55,000 objects, and around 5,000 of them are on show. The great draw, however, comes in the afternoon. On every day the museum is open, the Mehter, the Ottoman military band, plays a concert from 3 to 4 pm.

Where the Military Museum stands

The district of Harbiye takes its name from the War School that used these buildings in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal, later Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, graduated from this school. After long restoration work from 1966, the old school building opened as the museum on 10 February 1993. So a visit here is also a visit to the place where a generation of Ottoman officers trained.

Quick facts

• Good for: historic weapons, a live Mehter concert, families
• Best combined with: Taksim Square, a morning at Dolmabahçe Palace

The History of the Military Museum

From Hagia Irene to Harbiye

The collection is far older than the building. After the conquest of 1453, the Byzantine church of Hagia Irene became the Cebehane, a store for valuable weapons and war equipment. In 1726, the stores were reorganized under the name Dar-ül Esliha. Then, in 1846, the marshal of the arsenal, Damat Ahmet Fethi Paşa, laid the foundations of a real museum there.

Soon the collections took the name Müze-i Hümayun, the Imperial Museum. As the archaeological finds grew, they moved to the Tiled Kiosk, and that move began today's Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The arms stayed in Hagia Irene until 1940, when the museum paused its work during the Second World War. Later, from 1959, the objects went on show again in the school's gymnasium, until the move into the main building in 1993.

What to See at the Military Museum

The halls of the Military Museum

The halls trace Turkish military history from the old imperial weapon stores onward. Among the larger pieces are an OH-13 helicopter of 1967, which served in the Turkish army until 1991, and a Lockheed CF-104 jet. Also, a diorama tells the story of the Çanakkale battles.

One highlight is a Krupp cannon of 1889. Its barrel is 11.37 m (37 feet) long, and the whole gun weighs 170 tonnes. Under Sultan Abdülhamid II, eight such guns were ordered from Germany for the Dardanelles. This one carries the name of the soldier Seyyid, who carried its 276 kg (608 lb) shells on his back when the crane broke.

The collection grew over generations. In the late Ottoman years, for example, Ahmet Muhtar Paşa added weapons through public calls and official letters. Today, the museum also keeps a library, a cinema, a costume collection and its own publications.

The Mehter concert

The Mehter plays at the museum every open day from 3 to 4 pm, so plan your visit around it. The band plays its great drums and horns for a full hour. Before the concert, a multivision show in the museum introduces the Mehter and its music. For the band's long history, read our guide to the Mehter, the Ottoman military band.

Visiting the Military Museum

How to visit the Military Museum

The museum lies in Harbiye, in Şişli district, a short walk north of Taksim Square. City buses and minibuses stop nearby. It closes on Mondays, on 1 January and on the first days of Ramazan and Kurban Bayramı. Entry needs a ticket. We arrange your entry to the Military Museum and seat you in time for the Mehter concert.

Before you go

Arrive well before 3 pm, so you can walk the halls first and then find a seat for the concert. Our afternoon tour, for example, starts in the halls and ends with the Mehter. In the morning, you could visit Dolmabahçe Palace by the Bosphorus. For naval history, add the Istanbul Naval Museum.

Updated: October 27, 2026.

Seeing the Military Museum with Us

Would you like to hear the Mehter in Istanbul? Our Mehter band and Military Museum tour takes you through the halls with a guide and seats you for the 3 pm concert. We seat you in the hall before the band marches in; pick your afternoon in Harbiye.