Florence Nightingale Museum
In the October of 1854 when war was declared against Russia, Florence Nightingale came to Istanbul among with 38 other nurses to organize a nursing unit to tend the Turkish and allied soldiers of the Crimean War. She organised a new type of war hospital in the Selimiye Barracks in Üsküdar district. In 1954, to mark the 100th year of her arrival in Crimea, her rooms in the tower of Selimiye Barracks were converted into a museum where you can see personal belongings, photographs, letters, certificates, medallions, and the bracelet that Sultan Abdülmecid presented to her. The upper floor has great views of the historic part of Istanbul. Besides the museum you can also visit the British Cemetery nearby the Army installations. In order to visit the museum you should take an official permit in advance and you should fax across a scan of your passport as the Selimiye Barracks is still functioning as a military barracks. Once there, the visitor must pass a security check, hand in his/her camera and cell phone, and then the visitor meets the Protocol Officer who takes the visitor on a tour of the museum.