The history of the Marmara University Cumhuriyet Museum Original Print Collection goes back to the “Contemporary Turkish Etching” exhibition organised for the 50th year celebrations of the Turkish Republic. The exhibition, consisting of 116 works by 28 artists was curated by Prof. Mustafa Aslıer and shown in various cities in Turkey and abroad.

Afterwards, the Works on show were granted to the Stade School of applied Arts, and it is these works that from the core of the collection. In 1998, the collection was enriched through new grants sommoned by Prof. Hüsamettin Koçan, Dean of the Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts (the old SSOAA). In 1999, the collection, in an exhibition titled “Exhibition Dreaming of İts Museum” was first shown in İstanbul then traveled, within the Project “Art-Truck” 3636 km in Turkey and visited Diyarbakır, Van, Erzurum and Bayburt.

The idea to turn the Sultanahmet building into a cultural centre and a museum was first initiated during Prof. Dr. Ömer Faruk Batırel’s rectorship and planned by the Dean of the M.U. Faculty of Fine Arts, Prof. Hüsamettin Koçan. This first attempt was cut short after Batırel’s leave.

In 2007, Marmara University Rector Prof. Dr. Necla Pur initiated the museum Project again, and thus inaugurated the Marmara University Cumhuriyet Museum with 85 artists from the collection, in celebration of the 85th year of the Turkish Republic.