The History Of Science and Technology Museum Ticket

The museum, in short

Working replicas of instruments and machines built by scholars of the Islamic world between the 8th and 16th centuries u2014 astronomy, navigation, medicine, optics, chemistry, clocks and hydraulics.

Everything is a reconstruction rather than an original, built from period manuscripts. That is the point: you see how the devices actually worked.

What it costs

Walk-up entry is u20ac10. Included on the pass, and no advance booking is needed u2014 show your pass at the door.

Getting there

It occupies the old stables in Gu00fclhane Park, in Sirkeci. Take the T1 tram to Gu00fclhane; the entrance is a short walk into the park.

How long to allow

An hour to an hour and a half. It sits directly beside Topkapu0131 Palace and the Archaeological Museums, so it folds easily into a day in the old city.

What to see

A large reconstructed globe stands in the garden. Inside, look for al-Jazari's water clocks and automata, surgical instruments from al-Zahrawi's treatises, and the astronomical instruments from the Maragha and Istanbul observatories.

Why it is worth an hour

It fills in the centuries between classical antiquity and the European Renaissance that most museums skip u2014 and it is one of the few places in the city where the subject is ideas rather than empire.