Sunay Akın
“As you enter the museum, your child holds one of your hands; as you leave, your childhood holds the other.”
Sunay Akın
“As you enter the museum, your child holds one of your hands; as you leave, your childhood holds the other.”
Sunay Akın
“As you enter the museum, your child holds one of your hands; as you leave, your childhood holds the other.”
About Us
Istanbul Toy Museum was founded on 23 April 2005 by Belgin Akın and the poet and writer Sunay Akın. Housed in a historic mansion in Istanbul’s Göztepe district, the museum displays the finest examples of toy history from the 1700s to the present day.
World history in the language of toys
The museum, established with toys Sunay Akın acquired from antique shops and auctions across the country over 20 years, more than 40 of which were spent abroad, tells world history in a more entertaining and memorable way. In the section displaying space toys, the quest to reach space is depicted, while the train toy section explains the Industrial Revolution through the language of toys.
A poet and a set designer
The museum's interior was also designed with this concept in mind by stage designer Ayhan Doğan. Having been opened by a poet and designed by a stage designer, the museum represents a first in the world.
6,000 Toys
The museum’s collection includes foreign toys dating from the 1700s to the present day, made by factories such as Bing, Flashman, Guenterman, Lehmann, Marklin, Marx, Masudaya, Schuco and Steiff. Toys by Turkish brands such as Alasya, Bilge, Fatoş, Altın, Gürel and Nekur, together with the Eyüp toys that form the foundation of Turkish toy history, also make up an important part of the exhibition.
Three generations together
The museum embraces the whole family. As grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, and grandchild set off in a time machine toward their childhoods, they tell each other about their own eras. The corridors echo with childhood memories beginning with the phrase, “I had one of those too!”
“The child took flight with one of his first poems.”
Milestones
The capital of toy museums
With the Istanbul Toy Museum, the gap in our country regarding toy museums, which hold great importance in Europe, has been filled. The museum also set an example for other toy museums opened in Turkey.
A Dream Comes True
Founded by Belgin Akın and Sunay Akın on April 23, 2005, the Istanbul Toy Museum has opened the doors of its historic mansion in Göztepe to visitors.
Turkey Through the Lens of Toys
The Istanbul Toy Museum held its first exhibition outside its own building in the German city of Bad Nauheim. The Turkey in the Language of Toys exhibition, featuring toys from Turkey, introduced our toy culture to international visitors.
Toy Museum in Antalya
The Antalya Toy Museum has opened its doors under the guidance and curatorship of Sunay Akın, the founder of the Istanbul Toy Museum. This development marks a significant step in the process led by the Istanbul Toy Museum to popularize toy museums in Turkey.
A Major Achievement in Europe
The Istanbul Toy Museum became the first toy museum to reach the finals of the European Museum of the Year Award, organized by the European Museums Forum (EMF) without distinction between museum types, representing Turkey.
The Establishment of TOYCO
Led by the Istanbul Toy Museum, TOYCO – The European Association of Toy and Children's Museums was established with the participation of museum representatives from various countries. This initiative paved the way for the development of international cooperation among toy and children's museums.
Game and Toy Museum in Gaziantep
The Gaziantep Games and Toys Museum has opened to the public under the guidance and curatorship of Sunay Akın. The museological expertise that began with the establishment of the Istanbul Toy Museum continues to inspire the creation of new cultural spaces in different cities.
Charlo at the Istanbul Toy Museum
The Charlie Chaplin doll, specially produced for Charlie Chaplin, has been added to the Istanbul Toy Museum collection. This rare piece belonging to one of the unforgettable characters in cinema history has become one of the most special items in the museum's collection.
Düştepe Toy Museum
The Ataşehir Municipality Düştepe Toy Museum has opened its doors under the consultancy and curatorship of Sunay Akın.
Museum in the Digital World
The Istanbul Toy Museum became the first museum in Turkey that can be explored digitally through Google Street View technology. With this application, the museum's exhibition areas have become accessible from different parts of the world.
Fairy Tale and Toy Museums
The Kartal Fairytale Museum and the Samsun Canik Toy Museum opened under the consultancy and curatorship of Sunay Akın.
The History of Toys in Turkey in Nuremberg
At the Nuremberg Toy Museum in Germany, the Turkish Toys – Sunay Akın's Treasures exhibition, featuring unique examples from Turkey's toy history from the late 1800s to the present day, has opened. The exhibition, which will run for one year, brought Turkey's toy culture together with international visitors.
The Establishment of the Cat Museum
Led by Sunay Akın, founder of the Istanbul Toy Museum, and in collaboration with the Beşiktaş Municipality, the Cat Museum has opened its doors. The museum brings together cats from the history of fairy tales, toys, games, and comics.
Tracing Childhood for 20 Years
The Istanbul Toy Museum celebrated its 20th anniversary. Continuing its work with the aim of preserving the cultural heritage of toys and passing it on to future generations, the museum has continued to bring together the childhood memories of different generations for twenty years.
Our Founder
Sunay Akın
He was born in Trabzon in 1962. His childhood was spent in one of Trabzon's terraced houses, built on its sloping streets out of a longing for level ground… On the night of July 20, 1969, he looked up at the sky from that terrace, hoping to see the man on the Moon, and he never stopped dreaming.
Childhood
As soon as he learned to read and write, he read the poems printed on the back of the pages of the Saatli Maarif Calendar. He wrote his first poem on an empty hanger in the wardrobe and asked it, “aren't you cold?” He played a game of matching the leftover fabric scraps from his tailor father's shop to the countries on maps. With those scraps of fabric in his pockets, he believed he was strong enough to carry the world in his pocket.
The First Museum He Founded
He saw Istanbul for the first time at the age of seven, and the first place his father took him was the Archaeology Museum. Back in Trabzon, he put his mother's rings, necklaces and earrings in a drawer and went out into the street to play “museum” with his friends. Sunay Akın, who at seven set up a travelling museum in the streets of Trabzon with his mother's jewellery, never gave up dreaming, and in 2005 he founded the Istanbul Toy Museum together with his wife, Belgin Akın.
Retired Captain of Paper Boats
In his childhood, so closely bound up with the sea, ships had a special place. He set thousands of paper boats sailing, from rainwater into streams, from lakes into oceans. Then he retired from the job. That is why the first title he held was “retired captain of paper boats”.
Republic of Poetry
In 1992, the Maiden's Tower, which he had first seen on a tea saucer in Trabzon, was put out to tender as “900 square metres of building land”. On May 9, 1992 he boarded a fishing boat called “Atak”, occupied the Maiden's Tower and declared this historic site the “Republic of Poetry”. He organised poetry evenings, art exhibitions and concerts in the tower, but sadly it never became the museum and arts centre he had dreamed of. Since that day, Sunay Akın has carried the title of deposed President of the Republic of Poetry.
