Museum of Innocence

Orhan Pamuk wrote the novel and built the museum at the same time, over more than a decade, and neither is an illustration of the other - they were conceived together. The building is a narrow nineteenth-century house in Çukurcuma, the antique-dealers' quarter, and inside are eighty-three vitrines, one for each chapter, holding the objects of the story: hairpins, salt shakers, photographs, quince graters, bus tickets, and the wall of 4,213 cigarette stubs said to have been smoked by Füsun, each annotated in Pamuk's hand. Some objects he had; most he hunted down in the junk shops around. The effect is a portrait of upper-class Istanbul between the 1970s and the early 2000s assembled from its debris, and it works whether or not you have read the book - though it works better if you have. It won the European Museum of the Year award in 2014. The novel contains a page that serves as a free ticket.

What's there

• The eighty-three vitrines - one for each chapter of the novel.
• The cigarette wall - thousands of annotated stubs.
• The everyday objects - the material culture of late-century Istanbul.
• The attic room - the narrator's room at the top of the house.

When to go

Year-round; it is indoors and small. Closed on Mondays. Weekday mornings are quietest - the house is narrow and a few visitors fill it.

Practical notes

The house is small and stairs are steep with no lift. It rewards knowing the book; without it the vitrines can read as an antique shop. Photography is restricted.

Nearby

Çukurcuma's antique shops surround it; İstiklal Avenue is a steep walk uphill.

Key facts