New opera house to be opened at Taksim, Istanbul in first quarter 2019

Istanbul will be proud of the new iconic cultural center in Taksim Square to be built by first quarter of 2019. The new building will replace the existing Opera House / Cultural Center (Atatürk Kültür Merkezi) which was first designed as a theater building by French architect Auguste Perret and built in 1946. The new building is expected to become the “symbolic” region of Istanbul. The new cultural center will have a capacity of 2,500 people and huge screens will be displayed outside the building.

Many believe it is a pity that that the construction of the new AKM building, which has been closed for many years, was delayed until today.

It is reported that Murat Tabanlıoğlu , the son of one of the building’s first architects will be leading the project. Regarding the project Tabanlıoğlu commented as follows: “Opera houses are often places where only rich elites go, whereas they should be places where everyone can go.”