The Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul exhibits today an interesting collection of painters from Turkey and other countries. The collection is composed of select examples of early Turkish painting as well as the works of foreign artists who worked in Istanbul during the later years of the Ottoman Empire. The collection is focused primarily on works created between 1850 and 1950, and in addition to works by Raphael and local artists such as Süleyman Seyyid, Nazmi Ziya Güran, Feyhaman Duran and Fikret Mualla and he works of foreign artists like Fausto Zonaro and Ivan Ayvazovski. It shows that cultural borders, if they did exist, are relative. The history of the building of the Museum shows already Italian and French influences and European history. The building was designed by an Italian architect.
