Smyrna's culture is layered rather than monumental: Greek and Armenian merchant streets, nine synagogues in one bazaar block, Italianate villas built on fig money, and a contemporary art scene squatting in old shipyard depots.
Three restored pavilions in Kültürpark hold Smyrna's stone inscriptions, Ottoman ceramics and Levantine silver, with roughly 1,500 pieces in the precious-artefacts hall alone. Open 08:30–17:30, closed Mondays.
The Arkas shipping family's collection fills an 1875 Levantine mansion on Cumhuriyet Boulevard, with rotating shows of French Orientalist painting and Turkish modernists. Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–18:00, entry free.
Izmir's 1625 St. Polycarp is the city's oldest church, its interior covered in trompe-l'oeil frescoes by Raymond Père. Around it run Alsancak's Levantine rows — 19th-century bay-windowed houses in ochre and rose.
A shipyard-and-workshop quarter behind Alsancak station where artists took over empty depots from 2013 on. Murals, artist-run project rooms and the Darağaç collective's annual September group show fill the alleys.
Bahribaba Park's museum gathers finds from Smyrna, Klazomenai and Teos — the bronze Demeter, Roman portrait heads and a Hellenistic runner. Open 08:30–19:00 in summer, 08:30–17:30 in winter.
Housed in an 1831 stone building that served as the St. Roch hospital, the collection covers camel-wrestling regalia, tinsmithing, block-printed textiles and a reconstructed Izmir bridal room. Entry is free.
The İzmir State Symphony Orchestra's home in Güzelyalı, a hall of about 1,300 seats opened in 2008 with a smaller chamber stage. Season runs October to May, usually Friday evenings and Saturday matinees.
The State Opera and Ballet perform inside the 1926 Elhamra, an Art Deco cinema on Konak Square restored in 2016. Programmes mix Verdi and Puccini with Turkish works such as Adnan Saygun's Yunus Emre.
Nine surviving synagogues stand within 300 metres — Signora Giveret, Algazi, Shalom, Bikur Holim — the densest Sephardic ensemble left in Anatolia. The Izmir Jewish Heritage Project runs restoration and guided visits.
Cross the bay on the Konak–Karşıyaka ferry, then walk two minutes to the 1755 Yalı Mosque — an octagonal single-dome building sheathed in Kütahya tiles, among the smallest working mosques in the city.
Bornova's merchant houses — Whittall, Paterson, Belhomme — now serve as Ege University offices and faculty buildings. Neoclassical facades, cast-iron verandas and walled gardens built on the 1850s fig and raisin trade.
Izmir's 19th-century coal-gas works reopened in 2007 as a youth culture centre. The brick retort houses now hold rehearsal rooms, a small stage and photography shows, with free weekend concerts in the yard.