The best museums Route de la soie

Advice to soapweed ambiance… Former prison for opponents during the 1979 pre-revolution period, the establishment remained exactly in the same state as it was thirty years ago. In a religious silence, only disturbed by the distant echo of the gardien, the visit begins with a long framed entrance of walls on which the names of the prisoners are inscribed. Here, the secret police of the Shah (the Savak) were free to award all dissidents. The museum consists of the elucidation of these methods, illustrated by bloody models. An original visit, just steps from the national museum of Iran, which takes little time and allows you to discover another face of the country's history.

Like the Musée d'Histoire, the Musée des Beaux-Arts underwent a famous facelift after the pandemic. Numerous works of painting and sculpture, once kept in reserve or displayed in dark corners, are now showcased in bright, pleasant spaces. There are no exceptional pieces in the collection, but there are some fine collections of handicrafts, as well as the usual litany of Russian and Kyrgyz painters from the Soviet period. The first floor hosts interesting temporary exhibitions.

Built in 1951, the current building that houses the museum is the Neve Shalom Synagogue, one of the city's most important synagogues. It can accommodate 2,000 faithful. The museum there traces the history of this community that lived without discrimination in its new homeland. Maps, portraits of famous people, precious documents, newspaper excerpts, religious objects are displayed in this former synagogue.

Private museum created by the will of Mr. Rahmi Koç, son of the founder and powerful industrialist, Mr. Vehbi Koç. The Koç family is one of the best known in the country, with Sabancı (the SA that can be seen everywhere). Probably built at the time of Ahmed III, the building was a foundry and mainly produced marine anchors, hence its name Lengerhane, literally meaning "house of anchors" in Turkish. Restored under Selim III, the building was then made available, after the proclamation of the Republic, to the State monopoly for tobacco and alcohol. Ravaged by a fire in 1984, it was acquired by the Rahmi Koç Foundation of Museology and Culture, restored and opened to the public on December 13, 1994. The majority of the museum's objects have been selected from the private collection of the industrialist Rahmi Koç. These are original full-scale scientific, mechanical and industrial machines, tools and objects or their models. It includes locomotives, aircraft and vintage cars, among others. In 2001, the museum acquired a 93 m long submarine. Originally from the Portsmouth shipyard (1944), he served at the end of the Second World War and was transferred to the Turkish army in 1971. Every year, the museum welcomes thousands of visitors, adults and children alike, allowing them to learn while having fun. To complete the visit, a restaurant by the water's edge as well as a coffee on a restored old ferry.

Having belonged to the family Sakıp Sabancı, the residence is already in itself a delight to visit. Attached to the university, it is now a cultural centre, the most famous aspect of which is the museum. There are nearly 400 pieces in the calligraphy section. The paintings honour Turkish painters, but also foreign artists who have worked in Turkey. Antiques and occasional exhibitions complete the ensemble.

Rich of a successful modern museography, one goes to Deniz Müzesi as much for the pleasure of the eyes as for the knowledge that it brings. Of course, one is enriched by the Byzantine and Turkish history, especially in the basement where the history of the siege of Istanbul is very well traced. But what impresses the most are these majestic caiques that allow to apprehend all the grandeur of the Ottoman Empire. Opposite, the mausoleum of Barbarossa, admiral conqueror of Algiers in 1516.

The Levantine architect Alexandre Vallauri designed the impressive original SALT Galata building to house the Ottoman bank, which was inaugurated in 1892. SALT Galata includes SALT Research, which provides public access to thousands of print and digital resources, a 218-seat auditorium, the renovated Ottoman Bank Museum, workshop spaces, an open archive where archival research projects are interpreted and discussed, a temporary exhibition space (programming on the website), as well as a café, restaurant and bookshop.

The museum is entered via Dolmabahçe Avenue. The museum's garden also provides access to the garden of Dolmabahçe Palace. The museum is arranged over two floors. You'll discover works by famous Turkish painters such as Osman Hamdı Bey, İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat... As the museum has 34 exhibition rooms, you'll need at least two hours to tour it. Even if you're not particularly fond of painting, a visit to the garden is well worth your while.

In its original state, this museum is housed in the supposed home of the prestigious Soviet general Mikhail Frunze, born in Bishkek in 1885. Numerous photographs from the 1920s and propaganda posters are on display. The second floor is devoted to more contemporary military history. Press clippings even tell of the "Tulip Revolution" that put an end to the Akaev government. The first floor features a reconstruction of Frounze's house, oddly presented with a thatched roof.

The Museum of Zoology presents stuffed versions of all the flora and fauna of Kyrgyzstan. The stars, of course, are the Marco Polo sheep and the snow leopard (don't dream of seeing real ones in the country, so take advantage of this consolation prize), but enthusiasts will be able to spend time in front of the showcase of insects and butterflies brought back from Africa, the Himalayas or the Tian-Shan by Russian and Kyrgyz expeditions.

Russia's first museum of architectural ceramics opened in October 2018 inside the famous Peter and Paul Fortress. It contains some 300 objects used for construction and interior decoration, from the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. There will be beautiful fragments of facades of St. Petersburg buildings, rare Dutch tiles, old chimneys and other pieces of the city's history and architectural heritage.

Built in 1908, it was the first city racecourse in Tsarist Russia. It owes its existence to a very romantic love story between an officer of the czar and the daughter of General Petrakov. The general strongly opposed the marriage of his daughter Elena to the young captain Pianovsky, so the two lovers decided to flee from Tashkent. They seized the General's best horses and galloped to Karakol, where they took refuge and built the racecourse, which still sometimes hosts horse races.

The museum, opened to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the death of Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839-1888), traces the life of the famous 19th century Russian explorer by exhibiting engravings dating from his travels as well as some extracts from his publications and journals. Linger in the first room where, around a globe, are presented the four successive great expeditions in Central Asia of the man who gave his name to the small prehistoric horse that has now disappeared from the Central Asian landscape. The number of individuals was so small that inbreeding accelerated their near-extinction, before attempts at reintroduction were made in Kazakhstan. Don't miss to carefully observe the murals, which seem to move as the angle of vision changes. The second room is interesting for photos of Kyrgyzstan at the time of the explorations. It shows the different populations in their ethnic diversity as well as their traditions and scenes from their daily life in the 19th century. A few pieces of Przhevalski's personal material decorate the showcases here and there, as well as stuffed animals among those he listed. The 10-hectare park surrounding the building is also home to the memorial itself, which consists of a statue and a small chapel. In the cove of Mikhailovka, where in Soviet times torpedo tests were carried out, CBT organizes excursions and fishing trips by boat. Find out more at Karakol.

These ancient Byzantine churches have been transformed into a mosque and a museum. Murad III converted the building into a mosque in 1591 under the name of Fethiye Camii (Conquest Mosque). The central part of the building is still a place of Islamic worship. The former chapel is a museum attached to Sainte-Sophie (visit on authorization). Its walls are covered with 14th century mosaics. We can see the famous bust of Christ Pantocrator surrounded by his twelve disciples.

Before her, the statues of the writers Ilia Tchavtchavadzé and Akaki Tsérétéli. This 1802 building was founded by the Russians to create a Georgian elite. The integration of children from Georgian aristocracy into the Empire was targeted by preparation for military service.

The little church of Saint-Barnabé houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Here, you'll find models of his mad, visionary inventions, based on the original plans. Among them is his famous flying machine, inspired by his in-depth study of birds and the mechanics and anatomy of their wings. Inventions, drawings, anecdotes, documents... Young and old alike will have plenty to marvel at in the face of such genius.

This strange museum has been set up in the largest of the caves on the cliff. It presents the different religions that were once followed in the region: Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Islam. The different places of worship are represented by cardboard and pasteboard reconstructions. Don't miss the cave called "stone fantasy", a marvel of useless kitsch. On the first floor, after a staircase full of stuffed animals, there is a large vaulted room that is almost empty, but offers a beautiful view of the valley from its bay window.

This museum is a small architectural feat, since it was set up in a yurt with... three floors! And yet it's made sense for years. An ideal setting for discovering local and particularly nomadic customs. An interesting collection of photographs on the different minorities present in the country and their daily life before the Soviet standardization can be detailed through various objects and tools. Beautiful photographs also of Osh, and especially a very nice collection of shyrdaks.

Designed by Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800-1823) to house Roman statues and busts, this museum was designed by the neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova in 1807: there are about a thousand sculptures, including portraits of emperors, mock divinities, as well as numerous fragments, friezes and bas-reliefs of sarcophagi. It is worth mentioning the miller's funeral monument, from Ostia, dating from the 1st century AD. It is located in the gallery that links the Vatican museums to the courtyard and the Belvedere Palace.

Two small rooms display all the impressions of stamps, coins, commemorative medals of the Vatican City State since its creation, and others older.

The numismatic section presents drawings, plasters, dies necessary for the production of coins and medals. The philatelic section presents a collection of stamps from the Pontifical States, and some preparatory drawings for printing. There is also a Vatican post office.

This wing was built under Pius VII and inaugurated in 1817. It houses Roman statues and mosaics, some of which are copies of Greek statues. In the alcove we will seethestatue of the Nile. The river is depicted as a mature and bearded man, surrounded by crocodiles and sixteen naked children who symbolize the bends that the Nile must reach to flood agricultural land. This statue was found in Rome in 1513. Opposite, two gilded bronze peacocks come from Hadrian's villa in Tivoli. Their copy surrounds the Pigne, in the courtyard.

The Candelabra Gallery was refurbished under Pius VI. Its 80 m length is divided into 6 arcades where antiquities from the classical Roman period to the 2nd century are displayed. Under the pilasters rise marble candelabra. We will also look at the ceilings and glasses of the six bays designed by Domenico Torti and Ludwig Seitz under Leo XIII. Notice among all the statues, the curious one of the Artemis Ephesus: covered with what looks like breasts (and which in reality are bull's testicles), it symbolizes fertility.

Gallery of Saint Pius V. This little gallery exhibits tapestries. Admire the ceilings decorated with representations of the Evangelists and Doctors of the Church, painted by Giorgio Vasari and Jacopo Zucchi.

Sobieski Hall. This room, which is part of the apartments of Pius V, takes its name from the painting that decorates the main wall, by the Polish painter Jan Matejko (1883). It shows John III Sobieski, King of Poland, defeating the Turks against the ramparts of Vienna, which was besieged in 1683.