The Museum of Illusions in İstanbul is a hands-on museum about perception rather than a collection of objects: optical illusions, visual tricks and interactive displays built so that you can work out why your eyes report things your brain cannot make sense of.
There are more than fifty exhibits, among them holograms, stereograms and rooms you walk into that are built to mislead the senses. A separate games room holds puzzles and games on the same theme. The museum presents itself as suitable for visitors of any age, and the emphasis throughout is on vision, perception, the human brain and the science behind all three.
When to go
- Climate
- Across İstanbul as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in January to 24.7 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (99 mm) and lightest in July (22 mm). Long-term means for 1950-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
