The Military museum in Istanbul, Turkey, chronicles a thousand years of military activity and development in Turkey. It is one the leading museums of its kind in the world.
The Military museum is situated at Harbiye, north of Taksim square, Istanbul. It chronicles mainly the period of the rule of the Ottoman empire. It also has artifacts of Turkish military activity during the time of the Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires.
The museum was first opened in the Saint Irene Church, but later, in 1950, moved to the First Army Headquarters Building in Harbiye. It then displayed a nice collection of historical weapons, uniforms and various other military artifacts, and kept cannons mortar of the Ottoman period outside the building. It received its present location in 1993, and since then has been popular steadily.
The museum's current collection includes cavalry items, bows and arrows, daggers and lancets, armors made of copper, shields carried by the Ottoman soldiers. It also has items of tremendous historical significance like the chain which the Byzantines stretched across the mouth of the Golden Horn to restrict the entry of the Sultan's navy during the Siege of Constantinople in 1453. and the Sultan's "pavilion" in which he sat to receive foreign ambassadors and emissaries.
Other artifacts include those of the World Wars, the Turkish War of Independence, and weapons used by the Islamic, Iranian, Caucasian and European countries. One room is dedicated to iconic national hero Kamal Ataturk. The Mehter Takimi, the world's oldest military band, still performs at the museum, and the museum has a number of Ottoman musical instruments on display too.
