After extensive renovation work, the Türkiye Işbank Museum reopened its doors to visitors on Saturday, with the permanent exhibition “100 Years of Iş.”
The museum, located in its historic building in Eminönü and operational since 2007, showcases the century-long history of Işbank, celebrating its 100th anniversary with documents, photographs, films and collection pieces.
The museum, which has hosted approximately 2.6 million visitors since its opening and welcomed over 135,000 students for free in various quality workshops and events, had been undergoing renovation work to present a much more modern appearance and enriched exhibition layout to its guests on the 100th anniversary of Işbank.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Işbank Deputy General Manager Suat Sözen noted that the building housing the Türkiye Işbank Museum was built in 1892 as an Ottoman post office and started serving as an Işbank branch in 1928. “The building continued this role until 2004. During that period, it served Türkiye’s economy for many years as a branch highly favored by the business community in this region, which was a hub of export, import, trade and finance in Istanbul,” he said.
Sözen emphasized that the museum, which opened in 2007, had hosted approximately 2.6 million visitors as of March 31, 2024, and said: “When we look at bank museums in Europe, we see that they attract thousands of visitors annually. So, 2.6 million visitors is a significant number, indicating a great deal of interest.”
He mentioned that they undertook the renovation process considering the natural wear and tear of the building over time, the new developments in exhibition techniques, and the expansion of the archive with new photos and documents.
“As we approach our 100th year, we thought this could be a way to better tell our own story. We wanted to narrate Işbank’s story of its founding, development, technological advancement and transformation into today’s modern bank, as well as its contribution to society, with a brand-new technique. This exhibition also includes photos being displayed for the first time. Among them are some never-before-seen photos of the Izmir Economic Congress. I hope the exhibition, which intertwines the economic development stories of our bank and our country, will be well received by our visitors,” he continued.
The renewed Türkiye Işbank Museum is curated by associate professor Y. Doğan Çetinkaya, who also authored the book “Wisdom, Attention, and Virtue – 100 Years of Iş.” The exhibition design was done by Pattu Architecture.
The new exhibition layout spread across two floors of the building, focuses on Işbank’s founding and development years on the entrance floor. The entrance floor features four main sections: “The Bank of Economic Independence,” which tells the story of Işbank’s founding with early documents; “The Işbanker,” which details how the bank educated and transformed its limited human capital in its early years; “Growth, Capital, and Savings,” which showcases how savings campaigns accelerated by piggy banks laid the groundwork for investments and the spread of the bank’s branch network across Anatolia; and “The Bank of Affiliates,” which highlights Işbank’s pioneering role in industrial development, especially in the early years of the Republic, with details of the numerous factories and enterprises it established, ranging from coal to sugar, insurance to glass.
On the museum’s upper floor, there is a focus on technological transformation, contemporary banking and corporate social responsibility projects. Through collection pieces such as typewriters, calculators and early computers used in writing and calculations, visitors can observe the technological transformation and evolving digital services in both banking and daily life. Other colorful sections on this floor include the projects carried out in line with Işbank’s principles of sustainability and gender equality, the programs creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem, the bank’s corporate social responsibility projects, activities in education, environment, sports, culture and arts, as well as its past advertisements.
The Main Vault and Safe Deposit Box departments, integral parts of the building since 1928, and the Atatürk Hall, renovated with inspiration from original photographs, are also expected to attract great interest from visitors, as in the past.
