Museum of Calligraphy (Türk Vakıf Hat Sanatları Müzesi)

The Turkish Museum of Calligraphy is housed in Beyazit Medresesi, a former Koranic school, whose domed halls are grouped around an open courtyard on four sides. Together with the monumental gateway of Istanbul University (formerly the Ottoman Ministry of War) and Beyazit Mosque, the oldest preserved sultan mosque, the light gray building dominates Beyazit Square.
The collection presents the art of calligraphy ("beautiful writing") which was highly developed at the Ottoman court. Since in Islamic... cultures, depictions of scenes and people was confined to miniatures, calligraphy became an art form that was also used for the decoration of buildings and furniture. Texts and prayers from the Koran were turned into art, trying to capture the 'beauty' of God's words in a beautiful form of writing. Another section is dedicated to the Tuğra of the different sultans, whose
names, in elaborate artistic handwriting, served as seals – comparable with today's logos. There are also several curiosities, for example, the complete Koran written on a blackboard, a project the calligrapher Şeyh Mehmed Selim el Kadırı worked on from 1880 to 1887. Some hairs of Prophet Mohammed's beard and earth from his grave are also kept here. more