Inside Museums

S4 · E1 · Oct 6, 2025

The Art of Turkish Tiles Episode 1

Join cultural historian Janina Ramirez on a journey of discovery to unearth the story behind one of the world's most underrated art forms, the ornate Turkish ceramics known as Iznik tiles. Dizzying and gorgeous in their complexity, the tiles are the standout feature of some of Turkey's most beautiful buildings - and adorn great museums around the world. In the city of Istanbul, Janina heads off the beaten track to the Sadberk Hanım Museum, home of one of the world's finest collections of Iznik ceramics, and to the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, where she sees the art form at its height and learns how to decode its meanings. Heading to Iznik, the town that gave the tiles their name, Janina discovers how the art form was rediscovered after being lost for centuries - and meets an artist taking inspiration from Iznik design to create new forms of ceramics.