Guide
The building was put up in 1388 as a soup kitchen, founded in memory of Nilüfer Hatun, mother of the Ottoman sultan Murad I, and it opened as a museum of Turkish and Islamic art in 1960. It is one of the finest examples of 14th-century Ottoman architecture, built in the coloured stone and brick technique inherited from Byzantium, and the Ministry notes that the T-plan appears here for the first time in Ottoman architecture. The entrance runs through a portico covered by domes and vaulted arches and carries an inscription over its door; from the domed main space, doors open into the side rooms.
The displays cover İznik and its surroundings from prehistory to the Ottoman period. Among them are examples of İznik tilework along with reconstructions showing how tiles were made and fired, coins of various civilisations, and reconstructions of social life.
In the garden stand Islamic gravestones, well-head rings, fountains and inscriptions. The address is Eşrefzade Mahallesi, Müze Sokak No:11, 16860 İznik, and it is within reach from anywhere in the town.
