New Years Celebrations in Istanbul

2007 New Year will be celebrated in many private parties in the clubs as well as street parties in Istanbul. The major street party will be held as usual at Taksim Square, modern city center, with live performances and light shows.

Marmaray Project works

Tunnel digging at the multi-billion project of Marmaray in Istanbul has started. The project was launched in 2004 to facilitate transportation in this great metropolis when it's completed. Marmaray Rail Tube Tunnel passing under the Bosphorus, and Commuter Rail Mass Transit System between Gebze and Halkali districts will be the main rail transportation system between two continents.

Railway tracks in both sides of Bosphorus Strait will be connected to each other through a railway tunnel connection under the sea. The line goes underground at Yedikule, continues through Yenikapi and Sirkeci new underground stations, passes under the Bosphorus Strait, connects to the Uskudar new underground station and emerges at Sogutlucesme.

This project is one of the major transportation infrastructure projects in the world.

Rembrandt Collection in Istanbul until Jan 7th

Works from The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam Collection will be exhibited at the Pera Museum in Istanbul until January 7th, 2007. Three of the world-famous oil paintings of Rembrandt can be seen at the museum: The Portrait of Aletta Adriaensdochter, The Concord of the State, Titus at His Desk.

Feb 1-7, China Acrobatics Circus in Istanbul

Chinese National Acrobatics Circus will perform at the Turker Inanoglu Maslak Show Center in Istanbul between February 1st-7th, 2007. The Circus was founded in 1950 and is still the biggest acrobatics group of China.

Dec 19-24, Tango Passion in Istanbul

World famous tango group Tango Pasion was on stage at Turker Inanoglu Maslak Show Center in Istanbul between December 19th-24th. Many performances attracted thousands of Tango lovers to the show, which will be repeated on regular basis every year.

Dec 7-Apr 8, Mongolian Genghis Khan Exhibition

A fine exhibition of "Genghis Khan and his Heirs - The Great Mongolian Empire" will be hosted at Sabanci Museum on the Bosphorus in Istanbul, sponsored by Garanti Bank, until April 8th, 2007. The collection will bring together 600 pieces, some of which will be seen by the public for the first time.

Opening Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday 10:00-18:00
Wednesday, Saturday 10:00-22:00
The museum is closed on Mondays and on the 1st day of Religious holidays and the 1st of January.

Admission:
10 YTL for adults
3 YTL for students, teachers, and seniors over 60

Cityscape Architectural Review Award 2006 to Kanyon Mall

Kanyon Shopping Mall in Istanbul won the 2006 Great Award of Cityscape Architectural Review, which is known as the Oscars of Architecture. The Kanyon Mall was built by Eczacibasi family and opened in mid-2006 in the new part of Istanbul, with 160 shops in an open-air design, Mars movie theaters, fitness center, residences, and fine food courts.

Nov-Jan28, Venice - Istanbul Exhibition

The Istanbul Museum of Modern art is hosting a temporary exhibition, "Venice-Istanbul", with a selection of works from the 51st Venice Biennial until January 28, 2007.

Coinciding with the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Italy and the subsequent declaration of Istanbul and Venice as sister cities, the exhibit will bring out the strong interaction between these two cities with rich historical pasts.

Nov 30th, Pope Benedict XVI visiting Istanbul

Pope's official visit in Turkey was between November 28th - December 1st, 2006. During his visit, Pope Benedict came to Istanbul on the 30th, leaving for Vatican on the 1st. In Istanbul Pope attended a mass at the Vatican residence, visited the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate and addressed people, visited the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, performing a mass at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Istanbul, and met several religious leaders.

Dec 9-19, Akbank 3rd Short Film Festival

This years Short Film Festival will be held in Istanbul between December 9th-19th with the participation of 35 films. These 35 short films, of which 21 are fictions and 14 are documentaries, were chosen out of 316 films applied to the festival.

Akbank Short Film Festival, in addition to the main building of Akbank Sanat, will meet the audience at the Goethe Institut Istanbul and Istanbul Italian Cultural Center, at several sessions.

Nov 2-Dec 31, The Genius of Leonardo Exhibition

“The genius of Leonardo”, the world’s largest interactive exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions will be exhibited at the Rahmi Koc Industrial Museum along the Golden Horn until December 31st. The exhibition contains 40 machines that were built after in-depth study of Leonardo da Vinci’s designs, by a group of scientists and skilled craftsmen.

Note that the museum is closed on Mondays, and will be open between 10:00-17:00 during weekdays and until 19:00 during weekends. Admission fee is 7 YTL for adults.

Oct 29-Nov 1, World Trade Centers Congress

Active in over 100 countries with more than 300 World Trade Centers all over the world, 37th World Trade Centers Association General Assembly was held in Istanbul between 29 October and 1 November 2006.

2009 IMF and World Bank Meetings

IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank have decided to hold their 2009 meetings in Istanbul. 2006 meeting was held this year in Singapore with 23,700 participants.

Nov 18-19, World Turkish Businessmen Meeting

The 6th World Convention of Turkish Businessmen will be held in Istanbul on November 18th and 19th, 2006, with the participation of around 1500 Turkish businessmen around the world.

Nov 13-14, Conference on the "Role of Women in Society"

A Ministerial conference organised with the cooperation of Ministry responsible for Women and Family in Finland, and the EU Commission on "Strengthening the Role of Women in Society" will take place in Istanbul on November 13th and 14th, 2006.

Istanbul is 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe

The European Council has approved Istanbul as the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2010, which was competing in the category of "cities outside the EU" against Ukranian capital Kiev. It has been calculated that millions of Euros in support will help refurbish local infrastructure, restore museums, create cultural programming, and launch advertising campaigns. The slogan of the city for this event will be "Istanbul, city of four elements".

Dec 1-3, Efes Pilsen Blues Festival

The only Blues Festival is Turkey will be in Istanbul between Dec 1st-3rd. This will be the 17th Blues Festival organized by Efes Pilsen Holding. Many international and local performers will be on stage, great names such as Buckwheat Zydeco, Larry Garner & Band, Michael Powers etc.

Nov 8-12, International Tango Festival

First International Tango Ritual is held in Armada Hotel in Sultanahmet old city neighborhood. Tango experts such as Fabian Salas, Esteban Moreno, and Otros Aires group is to participate the performances and workshops.

Nov 9, Dogus Power Center opening

A new super shopping mall is opened by Dogus Holding in Maslak district of Istanbul. The construction is finished in 19 months and costed 61,5 million US dollars. Besides many ultra modern shopping malls of Istanbul, this new mall will be the first Power Center concept in Turkey.

Nov 5, Eurasia Marathon

The only Intercontinental marathon in the world, Eurasia International Marathon, is held for the 28th time this year in Istanbul on Nov 5th, Sunday. Three Kenyan athletes took the first places in the 42 km marathon. There were also different categories like 15 km run, Balkans marathon, wheelchair marathon, and 8 km public run as well. Hundreds of thousads of people ran over the suspension bridge on the Bosphorus on this cold but sunny day.

Next year (2007) the Marathon will be held on October 28th.

Nov 3-12, Auto Show 2006

36 car producers and over 100 auto brands participated this years International Auto Show in Istanbul, staged at CNR Expo halls near Ataturk Airport. Many new models and concept cars were on display for over a week, attracting tens of thousands of people to the show.