Overview
The museum building was constructed on Namazgah Hill by Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu in 1927. A fine example of the First National Architecture Period (1908–1930), the building was designed as the Headquarters of the Turkish Hearts. Restored and opened in 1980, the museum quickly became an institution with all the functions and services required by contemporary museology. Among the museum’s first works are Osman Hamdi Bey’s “The Arms Dealer,” V. Vereshchagin’s “At Timur’s Tomb,” Fausto Zonaro’s “Portrait of a Young Girl,” and Emel Cimcoz Korutürk’s “Gratitude to a Veteran”. Some of the paintings purchased by Adnan Ötüken, founder of the National Library, have also been restored and added to the museum collection. Some of the works of artists who participated in the state painting and sculpture exhibitions, which began in 1939 during the Republican era to promote plastic arts among the public and support artists, were included in the museum’s collection by a selection committee. The works, added through purchases, illustrate the evolution of Turkish plastic arts and meet the needs of researchers working in this field