Library
Rami Library
An 18th-century Ottoman barracks in Eyüpsultan restored into Istanbul's largest library, with 24-hour reading halls, seats for 4,200 people and a vast landscaped courtyard. Entry is free.
The story
The Rami Barracks went up in the 1770s, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism restored, renovated and partly rebuilt the complex as a public library. It now covers 36,000 square metres indoors, with 51,000 square metres of green space. Much of that is a flat central courtyard shaped with small landscaped hills, with a coffee shop at its centre. The site holds Türkiye's first Biosphere Sustainable Museum Certificate. Inside are individual and group reading halls open around the clock, a baby and children's library, the Atatürk Special Library and a manuscripts library with old calligraphic books. The Şifahane, a restoration workshop, puts the repair of historical manuscripts on view. Exhibition and seminar halls, workshops, cafes and a bookstore stocked with Ottoman history titles round out the campus.
Good to know
TAGGG AI- ✦Tourists without a library card should bring a passport to get in.
- ✦Expect crowds at peak hours, when seats in the study areas are hard to find.
- ✦Families can use the dedicated children's library and the garden playgrounds, and the open courtyard suits small children.
Plan your visit
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