According to statistics collected on museums and historical sites by the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s Central Directorate for Revolving Funds (DOSIMM), a total of 2 million 105 thousand 752 tourists visited museums and historical sites in Turkey during January and February of this year. During the first two months of the new year, domestic and foreign tourists showed the most interest in visiting the Topkapi Palace Museum, which served as the residential, administrative and educational center of Ottoman sultans in the past. The palace was built between 1460 and 1478 under the orders of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, and was turned into a museum by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924. The Topkapi Palace, which houses a royal treasury, holy relics and imperial archives, was followed in its number of visitors by the Hagia Sophia Museum which is considered among the world's most important monuments, and the Mevlana Museum in Konya which has been operating since 1926.
Topkapi Palace Museum was visited by a total of 685 325 thousand people, and the Hagia Sofia Museum by 313 thousand 549 people. 4 million 106 thousand, 968 liras was earned through Topkapi Palace visits, and 4 million 214 thousand 503 liras through Hagia Sofia visits.