Tra spazio fisico e valore intangibile: il Museo dell’Innocenza di Istanbul

This contribution takes its place in the context of cultural heritage studies to reflect on the possible relationships between intangible heritage, characterised by a complexity of intangible values, and museum spaces, characterised on the contrary by a material connotation that requires the study and realisation of specific exhibition solutions. Starting from the highly symbolic and evocative value of the objects constituting the material component of the intangible heritage, the museum space is undergoing changes that leads to its reconceptualisation. In discussing this issue, the contribution presents and critically analyses the case study of the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul (2012), in which the singular derivation from a literary context becomes an opportunity to narrate, valorise and communicate traditions and customs belonging to a precise historical moment in Turkish society and its complex culture. Compared to other European museum venues dedicated to similar cultural heritages, the Museum of Innocence presents a spatial organisation of the exhibition layout strongly intertwined with Islamic cultural identity, which shows substantial differences from Western exhibition models.