National Palaces Painting Museum, Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Room & Limonluk Cafe

How would you like to spend time in the heart of Beşiktaş, away from the crowd, intertwined with art? The place you are looking for is a hidden oasis. Former crown residence of Dolmabahçe Palace, now National Palaces Painting Museum serves as. There is a very nice cafeteria at the entrance of the museum, where the paintings built and/or purchased by the Ottoman sultans are exhibited: Seker Ahmet Pasha Tea Room. Opened during the pandemic period in the backyard of the museum Orangery Cafe exists. Everything you wonder about the National Palaces Painting Museum, Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Room and Limonluk Cafe awaits you in this article!

If you want to stay in a central place in Istanbul after visiting the National Palaces Painting Museum Besiktas hotels You can book a facility that suits both your budget and your taste. The hotels serving in the region also draw attention with their close location to the touristic places of the city.

About the National Palaces Painting Museum

The building where the Painting Museum is located is the last of the four main sections of the Dolmabahçe Palace and was built in 1855 as the crown residence. The building is the symbol of the end of the closed life of the princes with the Tanzimat. Abdulaziz, brother of Abdulmecid, was the first heir to reside in this flat.

This building was affiliated to Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University between 1937-2010. Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum served under the name. It was restored between 2010-2014 and reopened as the National Palaces Painting Museum. The Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum has moved to the new museum building built in Warehouse 5 in Fındıklı. The Painting and Sculpture Museum, which is affiliated to Mimar Sinan University, should not be confused with this place.

When you enter the National Palaces Painting Museum from Beşiktaş Dolmabahçe Street, I recommend you to go to the garden before entering the building. The building, which is on the shore of the Bosphorus and right next to the Dolmabahçe Palace, has a wonderful view and a very beautiful garden. You can also pass through this garden to the garden of Dolmabahçe Palace. Let me also state that you do not need to buy any tickets to visit the gardens of Dolmabahçe Palace and Painting Museum. You can take a coffee break in one of the cafeterias in the garden.

The side of the building facing the Bosphorus and the side facing the inner garden are quite different in appearance, the two photos above show the two sides of the same building. What I mean will be clearer from the photos. In the garden, that is, after a complete tour around the building, you can enter inside.

If you go to the Painting Museum when the magnolias bloom, you can see the magnificent blooms of the magnolia trees in both the front and back gardens. You can see magnolias from mid-March to early April.

In the backyard of the museum, there is an ornamental pool in which swans swim, Limonluk Cafe and archive buildings. The archive part is closed to visit, but the garden and the architecture of the buildings are still very beautiful. Do not forget to stick your head through the door and look.

The Painting Museum is a very large building, as can be seen from its exterior. The two-storey building has a total of 34 different exhibition areas. If you are interested in the art of painting and you want to spend time examining all the pictures, I recommend you to spare 2-3 hours.

You can start to tour the two-storey building, which is separated as the ground floor and the first floor, from the second floor. Pictures that I consider more special and important are located on the upper floor. The museum has recently undergone a reorganization, the photos with the pictures were before the arrangement, it is currently forbidden to take photos or videos inside. The only problem in the museum, which is generally very well designed, is that the lighting does not illuminate the pictures sufficiently. I think the old version was much better.

in the museum Osman Hamdi Bey, İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat You can see the works of famous Turkish painters such as Famous Russian painter, known as a marine painter AivazovskyThere is a special hall reserved for . One of the most beautiful parts of the museum is the ceiling decorations, the ceilings of each hall are beautiful and carefully taken care of. You can't take your eyes off the ceiling.

There are 34 different exhibition halls in the museum. In these halls, paintings brought from Dolmabahçe and Topkapı Palaces, and paintings that were made or bought by the sultans or given as gifts to the sultans are exhibited. You can see the names and floors of the halls below.

National Palaces Painting Museum Halls on the 1st Floor

As I mentioned above, the halls that interest me the most are located on the first floor. I entered short descriptions of the ones that are important to me.

1. Sultan Abdulmecid and Sultan Abdulaziz Hall
2. State-i Aliyya
3. Salvatore Valerie: Few works of Valeri, who was the first painting teacher of Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi, founded by Osman Hamdi Bey, are on display.
4. Painter-i Hazrat Shahriari
5. Hall of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky: It is one of my favorite halls in the museum. For lovers of Aivazovsky, known as a marine painter, about 25 works are exhibited here.
6. Emilio della Sudda
7. Osman Nuri Pasha
8. Suleyman Seyyid
9. Turkish Bath Culture
10. Halil Pasa
11. Ottoman splendor
12. (Sugar) Ahmed Ali Pasha: One of our painters who studied in Paris at the same time as Osman Hamdi Bey, known as Şeker Ahmet Paşa. Although he actually received a medical education, he transferred the knowledge of anatomy he gained in this education to his paintings. He is among the important Ottoman painters.
13. Traces from Abdülmecid Efendi's Workshop: You will see many paintings signed by Abdülmecid Efendi in the museum. The signature you see as Abdülmecid Efendi II. Abdülmecid, the last Islamic caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty and the only painter member of the Ottoman Dynasty. Since he lived in this palace, you will find many traces of him in the museum, from his library to his workshop.
14. Abdulmecid Efendi
15. Osman Hamdi Bey: Those who follow my blog on social media know that I am a fan of Osman Hamdi Bey. Although a hall is reserved for Osman Hamdi Bey in the museum, there is only one original painting of him in the hall. Others are Osman Hamdi paintings by other painters. If you want to get to know Osman Hamdi Bey closely, take a look at the article I explained about him: Osman Hamdi Bey's Life Story
16. (Teacher) Ali Riza
17. Huseyin Zekai Pasha
18. From the Goupil Gallery
19. Life Istanbul

National Palaces Painting Museum Halls on the Ground Floor

1. Ottoman Ladies
2. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk: Do not think that a hall has been reserved for Atatürk, unfortunately, only one picture of our Ata is exhibited in the huge museum.
3. House of Saadet
4. Tasvir-i Humayun
5. Ottoman Navy
6. Wars and Victories
7. Hall of Battles and Victories
8. Conquest and Conqueror
9. Abdulmecid Efendi's Workshop
10. About the East
11. surrogates
12. Painters of Enderun
13. Ottoman Bureaucracy
14. Landscape in the Ottoman Palace
15. Çanakkale

Where is the National Palaces Painting Museum and How to Go?

The Painting Museum is located on the Beşiktaş beach, on Dolmabahçe Street, between Dolmabahçe Palace and the Naval Museum. If you visit Dolmabahçe Palace and proceed towards the exit from Beşiktaş direction, you can see the Painting Museum sign. While walking towards the Dolmabahçe Palace from the Beşiktaş bazaar or pier direction, the museum entrance is on the left.

Painting Museum Entrance Fee 2022 and Visiting Hours

The Painting Museum is open to visitors between 09:00-17:30 every day except Monday.

The Museum of Painting entrance fee is 15 TL for students and teachers, 40 TL for adults, Müzekart is valid.

If you have a Dolmabahçe Palace ticket, you can enter the Painting Museum free of charge.

They want you to wear shoe covers at the entrance of the museum before you buy your ticket. Overshoes were also compulsory in the Ihlamur Pavilion. I like this application very much in order not to damage the beautiful carpets on the floor and to keep them clean.

Seker Ahmet Pasha Tea Room

Apart from visiting the museum, you can also go to the Painting Museum to benefit from its cafeteria. You do not need to enter the building and pay the museum entrance fee to enter the cafe. After entering the building, you can go to the tea room on the left for free.

Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Room Menu Prices – 2021

Although it is called a tea room, the menu of Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Room includes tea, coffee varieties, snacks such as cakes and cookies. The menu prices of Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Room are listed below;

• Herbal Teas 20 TL,
• Turkish Coffee 20 TL,
• Filter Coffee 25 TL,
• Snacks around 15-20 TL,
• Desserts are between 20-25 TL.

The tea room is a small venue, as seen in the photo below. It is very quiet as it is a weekday. It is a very suitable place if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Beşiktaş and work in a quiet place, read a book or chat with your friends.

In addition to this calmness, the cafe also has a wonderful Bosphorus view. The view is the same as the view of Dolmabahçe Palace.

Orangery Cafe

There is another cafe in the backyard of the Painting Museum (the side with the pink side of the building). In the past, this place was a workshop, now it is arranged as a cafe. Its name is Limonluk Cafe. Both the interior, the building itself and the garden are a palace cafeteria. You do not have to pay any fee to enter this cafe. Limonluk Kafe has both indoor and outdoor seating.

Limonluk Cafe Menu Prices – 2021

Limonluk Cafe menu is richer when compared to the tea room. However, the prices seemed a little high to me. You can see some prices from the 2021 menu below to give you an idea.

• Sandwich Types 35 TL,
• Salads are between 45-60 TL,
• Desserts are between 18-22 TL,
• Main courses are between 28-95 TL.

Best of all, fill your thermos with your tea and coffee, throw a sandwich or snack in your bag, and eat it on the benches in the garden.

If you came to Beşiktaş and visited the Dolmabahçe Palace, you should definitely stop by the Painting Museum. If your goal is not to visit a museum, but to sit in a calm and beautiful environment, Şeker Ahmet Paşa Tea Hall is a great option. Let me remind you that the Tea Room closes at 17:30 and is closed all day on Mondays.

Other Travel Articles About Beşiktaş

• All my suggestions about places to visit in Beşiktaş: Besiktas places to visit
• For all the details about Dolmabahçe Palace: Dolmabahçe Palace
• An oasis in Beşiktaş: Linden Pavilion
• The lungs of Beşiktaş, where you can be intertwined with nature: Yildiz Park

Stay on track!