The Istanbul Modern, founded in 2004, returns to its original location on the historic Karaköy waterfront on the European side of the Bosporus, in a striking new contemporary architectural statement in glass, concrete and steel by Italian architect Renzo Piano and his studio. The new museum, designed to house modern and contemporary works of art from 1945 to the present, marks the final stage of Galataport, an ambitious urban renewal project that has seen a strip of the once inaccessible waterfront of warehouses and government buildings transformed into a cultural hub of Turkish and international boutiques, and luxury department stores such as Beymen and Gizia, along with chic restaurants, bars and offices.
