Istanbul Toy Museum
This unique museum is located in Kadikoy. In 2005, Turkish poet and author Sunay Akin founded the museum. 4,000 toys and miniatures from Turkey and other countries are now on show in the museum; many of the items are antiquities, some of which date back nearly 200 years. With kids or not, this is a very special place to see, and visit this museum with Istanbul Tourist Pass®.
Sunay Akın, who is a well-known Turkish poet and author, curated the Istanbul Toy Museum with toys he acquired from auctions and antique shops in more than 40 countries during a 20-year span. The museum’s purpose is to utilize toys to make world history more interesting and engaging for its visitors. For example, in the space toys area, the endeavor to reach the Moon is described, while in the railway toys section, the industrial revolution is described.
The Istanbul Toy Museum was founded by poet/author Sunay Akın on 23 April 2005. The museum which houses the most favorite examples of toy history, spanning from the 1700s to today is located in a historical mansion in İstanbul, Göztepe.
The inspiration for the museum comes from Mr. Akın’s Nurnberg Toy Museum visit 20 years ago. With the distinction of being founded by a poet and designed by a stage design artist, the museum constitutes to be the first in the world.
The Istanbul Toy Museum houses approximately 4000 toys spanning from the 1700s to today. Along with the traditional and domestic toys, you can also see unique toys from all around the world that represents the history of various countries. Among these valuable toys, you can find elegant examples of Turkish toys, Lehmann toys which are one of the earliest tin toy brands, Victorian-era toys, and the first examples of technological toys. In the museum collection, you can find important toys such as Mona Lisa’s one and the only doll which was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting and Charlie Chaplin’s own toy which he holds in his hand.
