Some pieces, such as hair clips, toothbrushes or cologne, hinted at the fictional lovers’ bodily presence some at everyday life in 1970s Istanbul through newspaper clippings, tin spoons and salt shakers and some at key moments within their love story, such as the formal invitation to Sibel and Kemal’s engagement party. More than the sum of their parts, each vitrine lent insight into the private world and passions of the novel’s characters as well as Istanbul as a city. The exhibition at Somerset House focussed on 13 vitrines filled with everyday objects that each represent a single moment within the relationship, interwoven with film by celebrated director Grant Gee, original material about the making of the museum and facsimile manuscripts of the novel. The museum allows free entry to those who bring their book.įor group tours please feel free to contact us.Both the novel and the museum tell the story of engaged wealthy socialite Kemal Bey’s obsessive love for Füsun, his twice removed cousin and a beautiful shopgirl, through an array of everyday items which have taken on special emotional significance as mementos and keep-sakes of the couple’s ill-fated romance. The museum is a great address for Istanbul lovers and Orhan Pamuk fans.

The book was published in Turkey in 2008. As a visitor, you don’t necessarily need to have read the book. The Museum of Innocence is not meant to be an illustration of the novel, and the novel was not written to capture the museum. The concept of the museum, which combines illusion and reality, is worldwide unique. It is a museum of great emotions, where each of the exhibits illustrates its own story. In order to be able to use all these collectibles in the book, the writer came up with situations that matched the moments, scenes and his characters exactly. On display are the objects that his novel character Kemal links to memories of his lover: photographs, old film posters and postcards, boxes full of buttons, clothes, make-up utensils, tickets, lottery tickets, glasses and much more. In spring of 2012, the museum based on the book of the same name “Museum of Innocence” finally opened. In the meantime, Pamuk continued to write his novel and began collecting everyday objects for his characters. Some time ago, with the idea of opening a museum in Istanbul, Orhan Pamuk bought a run-down building from 1897 in Istanbul’s Çukurcuma neighborhood of Beyoğlu district.ĭue to the joint expansion and renovation with well-known architects, the museum slowly took shape and was precisely tailored to his ideas.

The museum of innocence museum