Light as a Feather
The Art of Weights and Measures Exhibition Tour

Guided Tour

May 23, 2025 / 18:30

Egyptians weighed the goods on their scales and people’s sins. To the Egyptians, the heart was the source of human wisdom and the centre of emotions and memory. In the rite of the weighing of the heart, the deceased's heart was weighed on the scale against the feather of the goddess Maat, who personified order and truth. The heart symbolized the deceased’s conscience, while the feather symbolized justice. If the heart weighed exactly the same as or less than the feather's weight, the deceased could pass into the afterlife. But if the heart weighed more than the feather, it would have been devoured by the awaiting monster with the head of a crocodile and the body of a lion, Ammit.

The guided tour explores the Art of Weights and Measures exhibition from a thematic perspective. The tour examines Anatolia's social and economic history spanning four millennia through metaphors shaped around the concepts of weights and measures. Through the exhibited artefacts, participants will have the opportunity to experience the development of these concepts across Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean regions.

The 45-minute guided tour is free of charge and will be in Turkish. The capacity is limited. To secure your spot for the tour, kindly make a reservation by emailing resepsiyon@peramuzesi.org.tr.

Image Credit
Lead Weight Depicting an Eagle
Hellenistic Period
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Anatolian Weights and Measures Collection

Temporary Exhibition

The Art of Weights and Measures

As the measurement of discovery became the substance of myths, weighing and measuring, beyond being mere physical actions, became an important means of self-expression to those captivated by the universe and what lay beyond the boundaries of knowledge. 

The Art of Weights and Measures

İstanbul: Before & After

İstanbul: Before & After

Selected from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Photography Collection, we present the landscapes and places in Istanbul photographs, dating from the 1850s to the 1980s, together with their present-day views!

Chlebowski’s Sultan

Chlebowski’s Sultan

This is one of Stanisław Chlebowski’s larger canvasses dealing with themes other than battles; only Ottoman Life at the Sweet Waters now at the Istanbul Military Museum can compare with it in size.

Happy Republic Day!

Happy Republic Day!

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Pera Museum invites artist Benoît Hamet to reinterpret key pieces from its collections, casting a humorous eye over ‘historical’ events, both imagined and factual.