Adam Mickiewicz Museum

Adam Mickiewicz Museum is a cultural institution established by converting the house where Polish poet and writer Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) lived and died into a museum. The museum is located at the intersection of Tatlı Badem Street and Serdar Ömerpaşa Avenue in Beyoğlu.

Adam Mickiewicz Museum (Museum of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye)

Adam Mickiewicz’s Life and Arrival in Istanbul

Adam Mickiewicz was born in 1798 in Nowogródek (now within the borders of Belarus). Due to his involvement in independence movements, he joined patriotic societies during his student years and was arrested and expelled in 1823. During his years in Europe, he produced significant literary works and became one of the leading poets of Polish Romanticism.

During the Crimean War, Mickiewicz came to Ottoman territories with the aim of organizing a Polish legion to fight against Russia. On 8 November 1855, he rented a small house at the intersection of Yeni Şehir and Kalyoncu Kulluk streets in Beyoğlu, together with his friends Armand Levy and Henryk Sluzalski. This house also became one of the meeting points for Polish immigrants.

While in Istanbul, Mickiewicz maintained close relations with figures such as Adam Czartoryski, founder of Polonezköy, and historian T.T. Jez. It is widely accepted that he contracted cholera after visiting tents housing cholera patients in the Kurtuluş district and died on 26 November 1855.

Adam Mickiewicz Statue (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye)

Legacy and Establishment of the Museum

The house where Mickiewicz died was destroyed in the great Beyoğlu fire of 1870. In the same year, Polish aristocrat Jozef Ratynski purchased the land and commissioned the reconstruction of the building. In 1955, on the centenary of the poet’s death, the structure was converted into a museum in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art. Today, the museum is affiliated with the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.

Museum Collection

The museum displays documents, photographs, and artifacts related to Adam Mickiewicz’s life, literary works, and Poland’s struggle for freedom. In addition to visual materials concerning the poet’s time in Istanbul, the museum holds archives on the activities of Polish immigrants. In the basement of the museum, a symbolic tomb has been constructed in homage to Mickiewicz’s original grave in Kraków.

Artworks in the Museum (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye)