The city museum is housed in a soup kitchen that Sultan Murat I built for his mother, Nilüfer Hatun, in 1388. Born a Byzantine princess, Nilüfer was given to Sultan Orhan to cement a diplomatic alliance.
The museum's grounds contain marble statuary, while its lofty halls display original İznik tiles, with their milky bluish-white and rich 'İznik red' hues. Other exhibits include 8000-year-old finds from a nearby tumulus (burial mound) at Ilıpınar, indicating links with Neolithic Balkan culture.
Opposite, see the restored Şeyh Kutbettin Camii (1492).
