Modern heart of arts & culture located in Taksim Square. 

Primarily serving as Istanbul’s largest opera house, it also hosts ballets, theater plays, concerts, film screenings, and exhibitions. When it was first built in 1969, it was named the Istanbul Palace of Culture and was considered the fourth-largest arts center in the world. 

Over the years, it was closed several times for different reasons. The first closure came in 1970 after a fire broke out during a performance of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. It reopened in 1978 with a modern design similar to today’s building. The venue remained in use until 2008, when it was closed for renovation in preparation for Istanbul’s role as the 2010 European Capital of Culture. However, court decisions repeatedly halted the renovation process. 

In 2013, the building became a symbol of the anti-government Gezi Protests, with demonstrators hanging flags across its facade and even climbing onto the roof. Finally, in 2018, the original structure was demolished. After three years of reconstruction, the new building was completed and reopened to the public in 2021—standing once again as Istanbul’s central hub for arts and culture.