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Türkiye is restoring Istanbul's historic Sirkeci Railway Station into a culture and living center, while preserving its role as a transport hub, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy inspected the restoration and transformation works at the station, one of the key structures carrying the memory of Istanbul's historic peninsula, and shared details of the project.
Ersoy said Sirkeci was one of the most important gateways for people traveling from Anatolia to Europe and Rumeli, a historical term used for lands to the west of Anatolia. He also noted that the area played a role in migration movements and military transfers during wartime.
The minister added that Sirkeci was also among the first arrival points for foreigners traveling from west to east, making the station both a transport route and a place closely tied to the city's collective memory.
"Sirkeci Station is a place with very different functions and memories when we consider it both as a transport axis and as the memory of the city," Ersoy said.
The station will continue operating as a transit hub even as the broader historic complex is transformed into a cultural and public space.
According to Ersoy, open-air event spaces will be created in the area, while new public spaces will allow visitors to spend time there throughout the day without removing the site's transport identity.
The large administrative building will house a library designed to appeal to different age groups. Exhibition and theater areas planned for the warehouse buildings will also form part of the project.
Restoration works are continuing to make the original architectural character of the historic station more visible. Other historic buildings in the area will also be repurposed for cultural and arts use.
Poor-quality additions and later interventions will be stripped from the complex to make way for concert and event venues, viewing terraces, children's playgrounds and social spaces.
Unqualified additions that affect the silhouette of Istanbul's historic peninsula will also be cleared away as the site is reorganized.
The Emirler Mosque, which was demolished in the past years, will also be rebuilt under the project.
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