Arts and crafts Istanbul & Marmara Region

It is around the square courtyard bounded by an archway that the fifteen rooms of the school's residents (medrese) used to follow one another. They have all been refurbished to become an art school, tea garden and exhibition space. The school organizes courses in twenty-four different branches, the number actually varying according to the seasons: ebru (the art of Ottoman marbled paper), hat (calligraphy), tezhip (the art of decorating the pages of a book), minyatür (miniature), etc. The prices of the exhibited works are displayed.

Two shops face each other. The first one is devoted to carpets, kilims and embroidery, while in front of you there are ceramics, pashminas, narghilés, tea services and beautiful clothing. Ask to see the small wool mobiles in Kurdistan, hanging on the wall. Decorated with boncuk boncuk (blue eye) or a protective mirror, they are nice gifts that are not found in other shops. Modern and friendly welcome. The mascot of the place is a wall eyes of the Turkish van.

Focusing on his work, a man with a grey beard stands out from the street, behind a window. It's Mr. Kamil. Since the age of 7, he has been passionate about calligraphy but he had to wait until almost his retirement to devote himself entirely to it. Wide choice. As for the schedules: it is open every day, "it arrives in the morning, and leaves late"... Possibility of taking lessons. You can just come by, admire his work and see him at work, it's exciting. The writings are mainly verses from the Koran and proverbs.

Right next to the book market. This authentic market consists of several dozen shops that have been set up under the walls to the east and north of the former Ministry of War, which now houses the rectorate of Istanbul University. These shops mainly offer souvenir items and are specialized in copper objects produced by Turkish craftsmen (coffee makers, trays, ewers, braziers...).