Discover Şişli

Şişli offers a wide range of cultural perspectives: the Ara Güler Museum brings together the artistic personality of its namesake, his life and his archive; the Atatürk Museum focuses on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk through personal belongings, documents and photographs. There is also the history of the Military Museum, a venue of the municipal theatres and significant architectural landmarks. Visitors seeking culture and urban history during their stay will find more here than a single museum theme.

Museums with distinct focuses

The Ara Güler Museum was founded in collaboration with Ara Güler and the Doğuş Group, and opened on 16 August 2018—Ara Güler’s 90th birthday. Its aim is to introduce his multifaceted artistic personality, inspiring life and valuable archive to a broad audience. This gives the museum both a biographical and an artistic focus: it centres on a life story as well as an archive associated with this personality.

The Atatürk Museum offers a different perspective. Most of its collection consists of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s clothes and uniforms, photographs from his civilian and military life, documents written in his own hand, medals and personal mementos. This combination makes the collection especially tangible: alongside written records, it includes personal belongings and images. When choosing cultural stops in Şişli, you can therefore choose between an exhibition with a biographical and artistic focus and a collection featuring numerous personal and historical objects.

Military history and theatre

The institutional history of the Military Museum should be distinguished from the history of a specific building. The institution’s origins date back to the 15th century. Following restoration work carried out from 1966 onwards, the former Harbiye building opened to visitors as the Military Museum in a new design on 10 February 1993. The date 1993 therefore marks the opening of this building in its new design, while the institution’s history goes back much further.

The Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage is also part of the district’s cultural profile: it is one of the venues of the İBB City Theatres. This gives you another type of cultural interest to consider when planning your trip, alongside museums and history. If you are considering Şişli as a destination, you can decide whether to focus more on collections and historical background or also include a venue of the municipal theatres.

Parks and architecture as further facets

At Maçka Sanat Parkı and Haydar Aliyev Parkı, open sports events take place on weekdays from June to September, from 09:00 to 11:30. This clearly defined schedule adds a sporting dimension in the parks to the cultural offerings. It is a different way to spend your stay than exploring museum collections or the history of a building.

Another significant architectural landmark in Şişli is the Bomonti Brewery, south of Abide-i Hürriyet Caddesi. Together with the museums and theatre venue, it broadens the perspective on Şişli to include its built environment. This means a stay can combine different cultural interests without every stop following the same theme.

Explore Şişli according to your interests

The Şişli travel guide lets you explore Şişli’s immovable cultural assets across three different excursion areas and four themes. You can choose routes of your own or follow suggested ones. This gives you a way to tailor your selection to the themes that interest you most, rather than simply listing individual venues one after another.

If you are looking for a holiday rental in Şişli, you can begin by choosing your accommodation based on this cultural focus: consider which aspects of the district you would like to discover in more depth. The topics mentioned range from archives and personal collection items to architectural history, theatre and sports events. More destinations to consider for your trip: Karacaköy, Kaynarca, Tayakadın Köyü, Anadolu Mahallesi, Şile, Büyükçekmece, Yeniköy and Cumhuriyet.

For the wider travel overview: Istanbul.