Military Museum

Military Museum review

The sheer size and wealth of this place says as much about the military's continued clout in Turkey, as it does about the country's bloody history. For many years, this was one of the few national museums to enjoy substantial funding, so the collection is nothing if not comprehensive. However, all but the most hardened military enthusiasts will suffer serious battle fatigue long before the interminable procession of rooms and corridors comes to an end. Definitely worth seeing are the gloriously colourful campaign pavilions of the Ottoman sultans, created from embroidered silk and cotton. Upstairs, in the 20th-century section, there's a decent display dealing with the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, plus some bizarre furniture constructed out of bayonets and gun parts. For sheer morbidity, nothing beats the car in which the Grand Vizier Mahmut Şevket Paşa was assassinated while travelling along Divan Yolu in 1913. The number of bullet holes shows that the gunmen left little to chance.