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ISTANBUL ISLAM SCIENCE
AND TECNOLOGY MUSEUM
M.Fatih SERENLI*, Detlev QUINTERN**
Istanbul Islam Science and Tecnology Museum which was
opened to visitors in the Spring of 2008 in Gulhane Park, functions
in the restorated buildings which were used as the Royal
Stables of the Ottoman Palace. Metal rings and angles used
for lariating the sultan’s horses are still conserved on the old
internal walls of the museum. The Future and the past melt in
each other where the charm of the old building connects with
the museum that houses the state-of-the-art communication
technology.
Caliph Memun’s Sphere
In The Ottoman Rose Garden
The ones who spent their chilhood years in Istanbul
during the 80’s and early 90’s will very well
know that the Gulhane Park in the past was a
place where festive events and open-air concerts
were held and where the one and only zoo of
the city was located. In time, the park, once used
to be the royal garden of the Ottoman times
and became famous of its rose gardens which
it was named after had been neglected and untended.
But currently there is nothing apparent
to remind the uncaredfor situation of the recent
past. We can even comment that the Park today
has become one of the largest and wellkept
green zones in the European part of the
city. We are proceeding in the park along with
the rustling sound of the autumn leaves that are
about to fall from the gigantic trees challenging
The museum established on a 3500 square meters area, houses
architectural works of art and machines and other artifacts belonging
to the fields of astronomy, medicine, mineralogy, physics,
chemistry, optics, clock-making and war technology, that
were built between the 8th and 16th centuries A.D., which
represents the apex of science and technology in the Islamic
civilization. Within the context it can also observed how the scientific
know-how and technology passed on to the West from
the Islamic civilizations by means of exhibition of the redesigned
versions of old devices, tools and samples.
Uniting the thirst for knowledge and love and acumen with the
desire to reach to the divinal secret of the mathematical order in
the nature and the universe have been the main drivers behind
the rise of the young islamic scientists in the 7th century. With
the everthriving observation and measurement methods, they
developed proper tools and devices and weighing scales. This
perfectionism that was incepted in the 9th century was not a
movement to kickstart a new scientific understanding, but a
sacred effort to use science for the good of mankind.
In the eurocentric history of science, Renaissance is deemed as
the revitalization of antiquity. The medieval age, which lasted
for a 1000 years in between the antic ages and the Renaissance
was accepted as the “dark ages” for Europe. Depicted within
the permanence of the history of science, it’s been argued that
islamic science was born and matured in between the 8th and
16th centuries. Even considered in most good faith, the scientific
works and accomplishments of the islamic civlization in
various fields have mostly been disregarded together with the
fact that throughout these 8 centuries the only language that
the Greek and Roman classics of the antiquity had been trans-
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