Iznik lies at the end of a 25 KM lake North East of Anatolia. Lysimakhos, the governor of this town after Alexander the Great, named it after his wife Nike. During the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods, it was known as Nikkei and was also one of the most important Bythynian cities at that time. Today, scientific research has determined that the town was founded in the 4th Century B.C. According to Ottoman Legends, Sam, the beloved son of Noah, founded it and, subsequently, it was added to the Ottoman territory in 1331 by the Sultan Orhan Gazi who renamed it Iznik.

The Iznik ceramic industry, created by the Ottoman Palace, reflected vast changes in Ottoman art from the 15th Century until the 17th Century. The technical quality of the striking drawings has become the most reputable ceramic in the Islamic world. It all began in the 15th Century using stylish, delicate blue and white arabesque and slowly developed into an enthusiastic naturalism during the 16th Century.

The aim was the beauty that man reached by using fire, earth and water. This can be seen in the silent beauty of oil lamps, tableware and ceramic paneling that have been preserved by time and remarkably expressed by the value of an art that has survived and shall continue to survive for centuries to come.