Vehbi Koç House

Transformed into a permanent exhibition space, Vehbi Koç’s House is at the service of culture and arts.

Vehbi Koç’s House opened its doors to the public in September 2018 with an outstanding exhibition. The exhibition showcasing the kilims, which Josephine Powell, one of the last travelers of Anatolia, collected over a period of more than two decades, from the 1970s to the 1990s, and were donated to the Vehbi Koç Foundation after her passing in 2007, is now open to visitors.

Vehbi Koç and his family who resided in Ankara, spent the summers in Istanbul from the 1920s onwards. In 1938, he bought the house in Büyükdere and the grove behind it from the Frenkyan Family. The building with a large garden was used as the Koç family’s summer house until Vehbi Koç’s passing in 1996.

Josephine Powell was the first foreigner allowed to travel across Turkey and explore the country after the founding of the Republic. She traveled around Anatolia countless times, visiting nomadic camps, shops of carpet and kilim sellers, and photographing their daily activities and handicrafts. The Josephine Powell collection exhibited indefinitely at the Vehbi Koç Büyükdere House features 36 kilims, select examples woven in the Ottoman era from the 18th to the 20th century, and survived to present day, as well as six sacks, one weaving loom and 73 weaving tools.

Kilims, which played an important role in the settled and nomadic lifestyles of Turks, with various functions such as mats, sacks, saddlebags, cradle spreads, tapestry, camel load cover, coffin cloth, and trousseau cover take the visitors on a delightful journey with special motifs including ‘eli belinde,’ ‘mihrap,’ tree of life, hook, ram horn, hexagon and rhombus that have intrigued numerous researchers and scientists for centuries.

Vehbi Koç House is closed to visitors until further notice.