Turkey celebrates Intl museum day with free admission
Most museums, including Istanbul's Hagia Sophia and Ankara's Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, will be free of charge
More than 30 museums in Turkey will keep their doors open free of charge until 23:00 local time to mark International Museum Day this Wednesday, May 18, said Turkey’s Culture Ministry.
The ministry said in a statement that the museums which will be open free on Wednesday evening include the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in southeastern Gaziantep; Istanbul’s Archeology Museum, the Hagia Sophia Museum, and Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum; and the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Some private museums, including Pera Museum and the Sabanci Museum, will also be free of charge.
Admission to the Istanbul Naval Museum will also be free. The museum has also arranged visits for the children of Syrian refugees as well as orphans.
The theme for 2016 International Museum Day is “Museums and Cultural Landscapes,” according to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), an umbrella group of museum professionals.
ICOM said that around 35,000 museums in 145 countries participated in last year’s celebrations.
