The Museum of Innocence, Istanbul, Turkey – متحف البراءة في اسطنبول

This museum is based on the novel “The Museum of Innocence.” The novel was written by Turkish novelist and Nobel-laureate Orhan Pamuk. It was published in 2008. It is about events in Istanbul between 1975 and 1984. A love story between a wealthy businessman Kemal and a poor distant relative of his, Füsun. The novel is about Istanbul’s upper class in the European side of the city. It explores the “pretensions” of upper-class Turks. Pamuk developed the idea for the museum and novel in parallel. Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. The museum was set up in a 19th-century house in Cukurcuma (the antique district). Pamuk himself collected and set up these displays. They are 'real' objects of a fictional story. His Nobel prize money went towards building this museum.