Rahm, M.Koc Museum / İstanbul

The M. Rahmi Koç Museum is situated on the north side of Haliç (Golden Horn). It includes a new, largely underground, building as well as the historical ‘foundry’ (Lengerhane) on the southwest part of site. The two buildings are connected by a glass - sided ramp. The foundry is listed as a grade II historical building and is thought to have been built on Byzantine foundations dating from the 12th century.
There is documentary evidence that the building was used for casting anchors and their chains during the rule of Ahmet III (1703-1730). It was restored during the reign of Selim III (1789-1807) and was then used by consecutive finance ministries of the Ottoman Empire and of the Turkish Republic until 1951. Then it was handed over to the State Monopoly & Tobacco Factory in Cibali and was used by them for the storage of alcohol. The roof sustained serious fire damage in 1984 and subsequently the building was left derelict. In 1991 it was bought by the Rahmi M. Koç Foundation for Culture and Museums and this was followed by two and a half years of painstaking restoration work. The museum opened on 13 December 1994.
Most of the items exhibited are selected from Mr. Rahmi Koç’s private collection. Other objects are either borrowed from, or donated by, various organisations and individuals. Original machines and their replicas, scientific and mechanical items make up the basis of the museum’s exhibits. In the following description of the suggested route for visiting the museum it is convenient to distinguish between the foundry and the new building. Entry to the foundry is through a narrow tunnel which is situated below street level. This tunnel also serves as an exhibition space for cannonballs and parts of cannons and anchors discovered on site during restoration. After the tunnel, staircases to left and right lead to the first floor.
The first floor contains steam engines, steam turbines and several types of boiler that powered industrial machines, sea vessels and land vehicles. Some of the most interesting items are replicas of steam engines of side-propelled ships, gas powered internal combustion engines, hot-air powered engines and working replicas of engines used to power light vehicles during the 1900s. The central, and largest, exhibit is a triple-expansion steam engine made in England in 1911.
This was the starboard engine of the passenger ferry No.67 Kalendar which served Bosphorus commuters for many years. She belonged to a company called Şirket-i Hayriye which ran passenger services in İstanbul and to some Turkish ports between 1850 and 1944. A model of the Kalendar is exhibited alongside the engine.
The locomotive and rolling-stock models exhibited in the the large display case are arranged in chronological order and include the famous 1829 steam locomotive ‘Rocket’. Of the many fine locomotive engine models in individual cases, that of the ‘Fire King’ is outstanding. Other cases show the application of steam power to road and agricultural vehicles, and one case is devoted to models by Turkish makers.  Several clocks and their mechanisms made between the 17th and 19th centuries are also on display.
Stairs lead up from the first floor to the gallery of the foundry, passing the hypotonic rolling-ball clock on the way. Here will be found measuring devices, astrolabes and quadrants used by Muslim astronomers to measure angles. These could be the angular distances of planets or stars above the horizon, for navigation; the angles to targets, for gunnery; or altitudes of buildings, for surveying.
Many of the astronomical devices to be seen on the gallery are related to navigation, but they also include telescopes and late 18th century/early 19th century microscopes. The final display case of the scientific instruments section is concerned with mechanical calculating aids, from abacus to Brunsviga, and with both static and current electricity. The first part of the communications section illustrates the progress from the electric telegraph to the telephone system. The case also displays a fine collection of early gramophones and tape-recorders.
In the adjacent section you will find radios from 1910 to 1945, together with headphones, speakers, tuner and phono-disc player. The woodwork of these is strongly evocative of a past era. The next case contains devices related to visual communication, both static (cameras, stereoscopes and typewriters) and moving (an operating zeotrope, cine cameras, 1950s black and white televisions).
On the wall next to the ramp from the foundry to the new building you will see some early 20th century model yachts, rowing skiffs and oars. Free-standing exhibits include a London tram, cut-away model car and engine, and direction finder aerials. Proceeding to the next room, a steam-powered machine and olive press from Bademli Olive Oil Factory will attract your attention. The machine and the press were in use at the factory from the 1950s until they were donated to
our museum. The aviation section displays aircraft engines (including that of the F- 104 Starfighter on display near the museum car park) as well as models of early aircraft. But the most interesting item is the salvaged cockpit of an American B-24 bomber which crashed into the Mediterranean near Antalya while returning from a sortie over Hitler’s refinery in Ploesti (Romania) in 1943. A nearby case contains artifacts found in or near the cockpit.
Across from this section are machines for making coins and printing banknotes, which are on loan from the Ministry of Finance. The 19th century, English-made, coin-stamping machine is still in working order and is used to produce commemorative ‘coins’ for the museum.
The remainder of this area is devoted to bicycles, motorcycles, perambulators and children’s carts. In 1861 the carriage maker P. Michaux and his son attached a pair of metal levers to the front wheel of a trolley, to create the first pedalled wheel and subsequently the first Velocipede. In this section you can follow the progress of two wheeled vehicles from the French Velocipede of 1867 and the English Penny-Farthing of 1870 to the magnificent American 1992 Harley- Davidson motorcycle. In contrast to these, children’s bicycles and baby carriages give a gentler image of technological and industrial progress.
Agricultural machinery used to depend on horse power for transporting it to its place of work. With the introduction of steam - power technology, the machines could both transport and power themselves. Two of the more important items in the museum are in the lower level of the new building. They are a traction engine and a steam - powered engine, made in England in the 1880 s.
Also in this section are some fine models of early 20th century cars and steam locomotives, as well as toys and train sets (including a working layout). These are usually found to be of particular interest to our younger visitors. The maritime section makes up a significant part of the museum’s collection. As well as models of whole ships it includes many half-hulls, which were used by designers to show their customers what they were buying the complete hull can be seen by placing the half-hulls against a mirror. There is also a wealth of artifacts associated with the sea and ships, from diving equipment and binnacles to lanterns, telegraphs and fog-horns. The late 19th century, double-oared, Thames pleasure boat is evocative of warm, lazy summer days and picnics under the willows with the lady of one’s choice.