Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum is located in Emirgan, one of the oldest settlements on the Bosphorus. The architectural project of the main building of the museum, known as the "Horse Pavilion", was commissioned by the Italian architect Edoardo De Nari in 1925 by Prince Mehmed Ali Hasan of the Egyptian Khedive family. The mansion, completed in 1927, was used as a summer residence by various members of the Khedive family for many years. In 1951, industrialist Hacı Ömer Sabancı bought the mansion along with its valuable belongings and antiques. During the renovation of the mansion where he spent the summer months with his extended family, Sabancı purchased a bronze horse statue from an auction at Mahmut Muhtar Pasha's mansion in Moda in 1952 and placed it in the garden. This statue, cast by sculptor Louis Daumas in Paris, gave its name to the mansion. The second horse statue on the grounds of the mansion is a cast of one of the four horses taken from Istanbul Sultanahmet Square during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and placed in front of San Marco Basilica in Venice. After his father's death in 1966, Sakıp Sabancı and his family moved to Atlı Köşk in the 1970s. Sakıp Sabancı expanded the mansion's furniture and antique collection; He created an important collection of Ottoman manuscripts, calligraphy works and oil paintings from the late Ottoman and Republican periods. In 1998, the Sabancı family donated the mansion, along with its collections and belongings, to Sabancı University to be converted into a museum. Sakıp Sabancı Museum was opened to the public in 2002 with the addition of a modern gallery. In 2005, the exhibition areas were expanded and raised to international technical standards. Today the museum; It offers a comprehensive museum experience with its permanent collections, comprehensive temporary exhibitions, conservation unit, exemplary educational programs and a wide range of concerts, conferences and seminars.