Back	Istanbul Gains a New Museum! The Ottoman Bank Museum, located in the bank's former head office on Voyvoda Street, and operating under the aegis of the Garanti Bank sponsored Ottoman Bank Archive and Research Center, opened to the public at the end of December and now joins the ranks of the most prestigious banking museums in the world. The project was carried out in just 9 months with the coordinated efforts of the team formed by historian Prof. Edhem Eldem, architect Prof. İhsan Bilgin and graphic designer Bülent Erkmen. The material displayed in the museum originates almost entirely from the bank's archives and constitutes a rich source of documentation to complement state records. Stocks and bonds, banknotes and customer files drawn from the archives are now once again available to researchers and provide invaluable insights into the political, economic and social environment in which the bank operated. The four safe rooms, situated in the center of the main exhibit hall, each present different archival series. The Mecidiye safe room - which gets its name from the silver coins once stored there - is entirely devoted to the role of the Ottoman Bank as a bank of issue and exhibits documents and objects related to that crucial aspect of the bank's operations. On the ground level of the two-storied safe room, counterfeit banknotes, packs of tied fragments of cancelled banknotes, and scales are displayed. The computer screens at the end of the main exhibit hall offer visitors the possibility to make their own interactive visit into the material displayed in the museum. Based on alternative chronological and thematic flows, this virtual tour of the archives displays the major trends in the history of the bank and supplies detailed information about the political, economic and social context of the time including references to prominent figures, individual careers and life stories. For more information on the Ottoman Bank Museum, visit our website at www.obmuze.com The Ottoman Bank Museum 35-37 Voyvoda Street, Karaköy, Istanbul http://www.obmuze.com tel: +90 212 2455095 The museum is open to the public every day from 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.