The Walled City Museum, with its maritime collection, preserves the Mediterranean’s maritime history and cultural heritage for the future.
Located at the Kyrenia Gate in Nicosia, the Walled City Museum opens the doors to completely different worlds for its visitors with diverse collections on each floor. Artifacts that reveal maritime history are among the richest on display. The collection includes numerous rare artifacts, from models of ships used in the Mediterranean for centuries, to navigational instruments, compasses, and personal belongings of sailors. These nautical vessels and navigational instruments, which have become symbols of trade, discovery, and cultural interaction, offer visitors a fascinating journey from the past to the present.
Among the exhibited artifacts standing out are ship models belonging to the great Ottoman navigators Hayrettin Pasha, Piyale Pasha, Turgut Reis, and Kılıç Ali Pasha. A wide selection, from Roman-era merchant ships to ancient wooden ship models, showcases various periods of maritime history. The museum also exhibits original pieces recovered from British ships. Items such as a wolf’s mouth, a rope hawser, a cross bite, a campaign, a porthole, a kerosene lantern, a gong, compasses, a barometer, a binocular, a searchlight, a knot board, and many other pieces illustrate the historical development of maritime equipment. Created as part of the Near East Enterprises’ mission to preserve and transmit cultural heritage to the future, this collection brings together maritime stories of the past with the present.
Scale Ship Models and Traces of Naval Battles
Among the museum’s most striking pieces are scale ship models faithfully reproduced from the original. These pieces depict naval battles between the Venetian and Ottoman Empires in Cyprus. Examples of ancient trade and warships are on display, and a model of a merchant ship used during the Egyptian period also attracts visitors. Artifacts inspired by shipwrecks offer a unique perspective on maritime history. One of the Walled City Museum’s most valuable artifacts is a model of the Near East University Training and Research Ship, built by Hilmi Şahlı in 2005. This ship, which sheds light not only on maritime history but also on scientific research, symbolizes a maritime heritage with its past and the importance of scientific studies carried out in the Mediterranean today.
Historical Maps and Oil Paintings Add Value!
One of the highlights of the collection is a historical map transferred onto ceramics. Created by a Venetian cartographer, this work depicts the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus. This map, which includes details of the Famagusta Kaleiçi region, reflects the maritime strategies of the period. A ceramic copy of Piri Reis’s famous map is also on display in the museum. Although drawn in the 15th century without any modern technology, it is considered one of the closest depictions to modern satellite imagery. Additionally, oil paintings by Cumhur Koraltürk and Refik Aziz Türk, depicting maritime history, add further value to the collection.
The epic battle of the Dardanelles (Gallipoli) Victory is in the Grand Library!
Another important exhibition, complementing the Walled City Museum’s rich maritime collection, is located in the Grand Library of Near East University. The “Dardanelles Naval Battles Ship Collection” brings the naval battlefront of the epic battle that changed the course of history to the present day with scaled ship models. Detailed models of 26 ships, from the Nusret Mine Ship to the Queen Elizabeth, from the Bandırma Ferry to the Savarona, are exhibited alongside naval mines, torpedoes, and battle scenes. This unique collection, which combines ships from the Turkish, British, and French navies, offers visitors not only a glimpse of maritime history but also the “impassable” spirit of Dardanelles, passing it on to younger generations.
