Miniatürk is a miniature park on the northeast coast of the Golden Horn in Istanbul. It was opened on May 2, 2003. It is one of the largest parks of miniatures in the world with an area covered by models of 15,000 m2 and a total area of the park of 60,000 m2. It contains 135 scale models of monuments and cities in 1:25 scale of buildings from Turkey and its surroundings and interpretations of historical buildings.
Of the total area of the park, 40,000 m2 is open space; 3,500 m2 is covered; and 2,000 m2 contains swimming pools and waterways.
60 models of the park come from Istanbul, 63 from Anatolia, and 13 from Ottoman territories, which today lie outside of Turkey. You will also find historical buildings such as the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the Mausoleum of Maussollos in Halicarnassus (now Bodrum). Additional space is reserved for future models.
Sometimes the best way to understand the full extent of the history you can encounter in a city is to see it from a bird’s eye view. Miniaturk, along with all the other museums in Istanbul, offers its visitors just that.
For example, it is a real experience to see mini models of fairytale chimneys, which you usually only meet in Cappadocia, or the model of Pamukkale, the real version of which is located in the city of Edirne.
These mini renderings allow visitors to Istanbul’s Miniature Museum to explore buildings and artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods while they wait.
In this way, you will get a panoramic and historical view of Istanbul as well as Anatolia. As the motto of the museum says, it is “A small model of a big city”.
The time spent in this way will delight the soul of both young and old viewers.
If you like culture, relaxing in the arms of greenery, or want to see “the whole of Turkey in one hour” – you are in the right place!
