The Cendere Pumping Station, once a forgotten industrial heritage site, has been transformed into a next generation library, event and exhibition space, and non-silent study area, as part of the restoration project of IMM Heritage.
The library is located in Cendere Art and opened on October 24th, 2022. It aims to contribute to the energy, culture, and art life of Istanbul, and to be accessible to people of all ages and walk of life.
The library homes a collection of books focusing on art and water culture and welcomes all Istanbul residents who wish to breathe in the shade of a 390-year-old plane tree and benefit from the non-silent or silent study areas.
There is no book loan service in this library, which is open every day of the week except for Monday.
Cendere Pumping Station is one of the few industrial heritage structures of Istanbul that has survived to the present day. It was built by Abdülhamit II in 1902 since as the Taksim water facilities, the main water line of the city, could not meet the city’s increasing demand. The station is a part of the Hamidiye Water System, the city's second largest network fed by spring water. The station pumped approximately 1200 cubic meters of water daily, to approximately 100 fountains across the city. The station distributed water to all districts on the road to Beşiktaş Yıldız Palace with the "purest and highest quality drinking water", in terms of water quality at the time it was built.
Bina, 33 metre yüksekliğindeki orijinal tuğla bacasını zamanla kaybetmiş olsa da, elektrik sistemine geçişe uyum sağlamak için iç mekanlarda bazı değişiklikler yapılarak orijinal dokusu büyük ölçüde korunuyor. İstasyon 1990'lı yıllara kadar işlevini sürdürmüş ancak kentte yalnızca birkaç çeşmeye su sağlamıştı.
