The ARIT center in Istanbul occupies an attractive four-story house in Arnavutköy, one of the best-preserved villages on the Bosphorus. Arnavutköy is rich in old wooden houses, shops and restaurants, all within a ten-minute walk. The ARIT center, built in the 1920’s, is just one door in from the road along the Bosphorus, and less than five minutes’ walk from bus and ferry stations. ARIT in Istanbul has hostel facilities with single and double bedrooms, kitchen facilities and dining area. The center has conference rooms and study areas associated with the library. Scholars affiliated with ARIT can make use of computer facilities there to access personal e-mail accounts and web services.

The library at ARIT-Istanbul has approximately 14,000 volumes and journals, and covers the Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern Turkish periods. The gift of the library of Dr. H. Kenneth Snipes greatly enhanced the ARIT Istanbul library holdings for the Byzantine era. The library continues to develop the collection for Byzantine studies. A catalogue of the holdings of the Istanbul center library is now accessible via internet at the Digital Library for International Research (DLIR) server.