In the heart of the Beyoğlu waterfront, just steps from the Bosphorus, stands a building that most visitors initially mistake for a designer hotel or a corporate office. Inside lies nearly 12,000 works of Turkish art, gathered over almost a century.The Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture (IMPS), Turkey's first museum dedicated to painting and sculpture, opened in its new home at Galataport in 2021, and since then this stretch of waterfront has become one of the city's most significant cultural addresses.

From the Crown Prince's Quarters to Antrepo 5

The museum's story began in 1937, when Atatürk initiated the installation of a painting collection in the Crown Prince's apartments at Dolmabahçe Palace. At the time, the exhibition held 320 works; today the collection spans painting, sculpture, ceramics, and calligraphy from the late Ottoman period through the end of the 20th century. Among its defining names are Osman Hamdi Bey, founder of the Academy of Fine Arts, and sculptor Yervant Osgan, Turkey's first sculpture educator. The collection also holds a remarkable series of works from the transitional period between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, including paintings by the last caliph Abdulmejid.

A highlight of the permanent exhibition is the largest Osman Hamdi Bey collection in Turkey - 17 paintings displayed on the museum's third floor. A painter, archaeologist, and pioneer of the museum profession in the country, he is best known for The Tortoise Trainer (Turkish: Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi), which sold at auction in 2004 for $3.5 million. His orientalist canvases, shaped by his studies in Europe, became emblematic of a pivotal moment when Turkish art first entered into dialogue with the Western academic tradition.

After closing for restoration in 2007, the collection remained in storage for several years until Antrepo 5, a former port warehouse in Tophane, was allocated to Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. The firm Emre Arolat Architecture reimagined the structure in the spirit of the original designs by architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem: the industrial bones of the warehouse were preserved, while three full exhibition floors, a conference hall, a library, and studios were added inside.

As Istanbul's cultural districts continue to evolve, many expats consider property abroad not only as an investment, but as a way to access a creative environment shaped by architecture, museums, and street art. Beyoğlu, where interest among international residents is steadily growing, is a compelling reflection of exactly that.

The opening of IMPS in its new building coincided with a sweeping transformation of the surrounding area. Galataport, once a closed port complex inaccessible to the public, was reimagined as a pedestrian waterfront lined with restaurants, galleries, and open public spaces. Right beside IMPS, Istanbul Modern now occupies a building designed by Renzo Piano. With two world-class museums located within walking distance of each other, this part of Beyoğlu has evolved into a cultural quarter whose concentration of museums and public spaces now rivals some of Europe's most prominent waterfront districts.