THE AMASYA MUSEUM

Amasya Museum

To begin with, a "Museum Store" was formed in 1925 combining a part of Sultan Beyazıd II's Complex_(two rooms of the school), few archaeological artefacts and Islamic Period mummies.

Then, when the number of artefacts increased and the new locations were needed for their exhibition, in 1962 the museum was moved to Gökmedrese Mosque dating from 1266, one of works of art of the Seljuk Period. Until 1958 the museum was managed through voluntary official servants and was converted into a Museum Directorate in June of the same year.

The museum was moved into the present building on March 22, 1977; and then the museum was rearranged and all artefacts were exhibited in their chronological order and opened for service in 1980.

With about twenty four thousand works of art consisting archaeological and ethnographical artefacts, coins, seals, manuscripts and mummies of 11 individual civilisations, the museum is the most modern and the richest one in the region, and has been serving the culture and tourism of our country.

The museum building is a three-storey building with a storage section, a laboratory and other service units in the basement floor, a kiosk, a resting hall and a small exhibition hall on the first floor and on the upper storey; it has two large exhibition halls where archaeological, numismatic and ethnographical artefacts are exhibited. In the garden there are 6 mummies of the Ilhanlı Period within Sultan Mesut I Tomb and works of fine masonry.


Exhibition of First Floor

Amphora

They are made of earthenware, with two handles, sharp bottoms, dating from the Roman and Byzantine Periods. They were used in the transportation and storage of wine, olive oil and similar liquids during the antiquity. The works of art known to be found from a sunken ship near Bafra were granted to the museum in 1977.


Tombs

There are four tombs in this section. Three tombs were made of earthenware, and the fourth one was made of bronze.


Bronze Tomb

It is made in a hammering technique and in the shape of a modern bathtub. There are four symmetrical ring handles on the corners near the opening edges. It was excavated from a big tumulus called Çakırmıstığın tepesi in Esençay of Taşova District and is an artefact of the Hellenistic period.

Earthenware Tombs

One of them is cornered, the second one is cylindrical and the third one is in the shape of a bathtub. They were used as tombs during the Roman Period.

Sculptures

There are two sculptures exhibited here, dating from Hellenistic and Roman Period. One is the priest sculpture without head in clothes, and the other represents Dionysus and his son on relief.

In the section where tombs are exhibited, original marble inscriptions of mosques, madrassas and similar buildings built in Amasya during the Ottoman Empire Period are on exhibition.

The carpets, carpet seccade, carpet bags and rugs brought by the immigrants from Azerbaijan, the surrounding of Amasya during the 1897-1898 Ottoman-Russia War, are exhibited here. Also Milas, Kırşehir and Avanos carpets and rugs are exhibited here.

Wooden Works of Art

In this section, magnificent samples of wooden carpentry artefacts of Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman origin are exhibited.

Door panel from Byzantine Period

It is from Gümüş Town of Gümüşhacıköy District. It has branches of vine symbolising the fertility made through embossing technique coinciding with vine leaf in circle shapes and big grape bunches. It is an artefact from the late Byzantine Period.

Door from Seljuk Period

The original door of Gökmedrese was built in between 1266-1267 during the Seljuk Period. Made of Abanose wood, it has two panels and it is a monumental work of art. It has carved decorations, roman type and curved branched round vault, and within the border, on the forehead section, the saying of Muhammad in Arabic meaning "in the other world human beings are asked their good works and the knowledge they taught the world or their off-springs thanking and praying for them." On the centre of the door there is a triangle, a pentagon and a hexagon formed by means of coincidence of broken lines decorated with curved branch motifs.

Mosque Door from Ottoman Empire Period

The original door of Mehmet Paşa Mosque is dated to 1485, the Ottoman Empire Period. A two panel door with pentagons formed through coincidence of broken lines and decorated with star motifs. It is one of the rare samples of the Ottoman wooden carpentry. This section has closet covers and cleaning parts collected from the civil architecture samples of Amasya in the 19th century.

Second Floor Exhibition

The storey is divided into two halves, namely the archaeological and ethnographical sections. At the end of the archaeological section there are closets where coins and jewellery are exhibited.

Works of Art from Bronze Age (B.C. 3500-2100)

the works representing this age in the museum are exhibited in three separate windows. In the first one, black and red coloured, finely gilded and some having groove metal imitations, with and without handles, spherical, round mouthed, flat bottom, pottery and jugs are exhibited. All of the works of art excavated from Mahmatlar and Merzifon Oymaağaç Village of Amasya centre are handmade artefacts.
Other windows have bronze knives, axes, bone needles and stamps.

Hittite Age (B.C. 1750-1200)
They are exhibited in two windows.
In the first one, there are filters with beak mouthed, camel feature coloured earthenware jugs, pottery, bowls and an earthenware temple.
In the second one, bronze and stone seals, earthenware bull heads, human figures, idols and various type earthenware ritons and three sacred containers are exhibited.

Hittite God Sculpture
In Archaeological literature the "Amasya Sculpture" or "Hittite Storm God Teashop" is one of the unique works of art in the world.
It was found accidentally in a tumulus in Doğantepe Town of Amasya centre. It is made of bronze casting technique but its arms, legs and some other parts have not been found yet.
God figures seen in the Hittite Empire Period embossing artefacts are similar to embossing of gods discovered in Yazılıkaya open temple in Boğazköy (Hattuşaş).
The current height of the artefact with sharp hat, short skirt, in a stepping forward posture, is about 21,5 cm, and its weight is 1.340 kg.
Among other metal sculptures dating to the Hittite Empire Period (1400-1200 B.C.) is the biggest human sculpture. Thick eye brows, hollow eyes, smooth grooved lines make it look moderate as well as giving it a strong and serious expression.

Urartu Period (B.C. 900-600)

The artefacts of the civilisation in the Van region of Eastern Anatolia were obtained through purchase. Bronze bracelets with stylized lion heads, bronze containers and one boiler handle are exhibited.

Frygian Period (B.C. 850-600)

Frygians migrating to Anatolia upon the immigration of clans around B.C. 1200 ruled the regions which previously had been ruled by the Hittites. Their capital city was Gordion near Ankara. The works of art, namely ritons with camel feature clay, plant mouthed, large bodied single handled flat bottom, cream primed in parallel to body lines are exhibited.


Iskit Period (B.C. 6th century)

These are the works of art discovered from excavation carried out in Imirler Village, Gümüşhacıköy district in 1970.
One folded sword belonging to an Iskit warrior found in a tomb has a handle made of bronze, many arrow heads formed like willow leaves, horse riding sets and one embossed and one bronze medium size bell are exhibited.


Hellenistic Period (B.C. 330-29)

The artefacts of this period on exhibition in the museum contain plates made of earthenware, flat bottom, light brick coloured clay, having double and single handles, jugs, and a large plate.
There is an artefact here made of earthenware, a curved body, round ring pedestal, double handled, body divided with metaphase, and interior decorated with a duck on a brown background. Also a jug processed with red figure technique having a swan figure made of earthenware is also exhibited.

Roman Period (B.C. 29-A.D. 476)

The artefacts of this age constitute the richest collection of the museum. They are exhibited in five separate windows.

Glass Works

Most of them are tear bottles, odour containers and bowls having thin long forms. Also an artefact dating from B.C. 7th century made with black, blue and brown colour technique, with double handles, yellow body, and amphora of the round mouth, short neck type is also exhibited.

Roman Ceramics

Double and single handled jugs are in different forms. They are generally light brick coloured and painted with red. Some of them have decorations on bodies and handles. There are also bowls similar to each other in having large shapes.

Masks
Made of earthenware, only having face lines, with mouth in the shape of a singing person.

Woman Jewellery

Most of jewellery made of gold, silver and glass are rings and ear-rings. The stones of akik stone rings have human and animal figures.
The ear-rings have different shapes. Some of them have valuable stones on the hanging parts. In addition, bracelets made of colourful glasses and diadems made of gold are exhibited.
The necklace consisting of the rows of double headed bird figures was obtained in 1988 together with the double ear-rings and the Roman Period ring.

Bronze Containers
They are single handled, without handles and boiler handled. They are made with hammering technique for daily use. They were generally left in children tombs as they were gifts for the dead. Particularly bull and eagle sculptures and snake figures are important artefacts.

Candles
Candles were used as lighting means during the Hellenistic and Roman Times. They are made of earthenware and in various heights and types, generally in brick colour clay.

Coins
Most coins exhibited at the end of the archaeological section are Hellenistic, Roman bronze coins and Byzantine Period copper, Seljuk Period silver and golden coins of the Ottoman Empire, and they are exhibited in chronological order.

Hoards are exhibited in the last two windows. One of the windows has a bronze treasure of the Hellenistic Period and 1134 bronze coins minted in nine types during the reign of Costantine the Great of the Roman Empire (A.D. 306-337) in Istanbul and Antakya. The copper hoard belonging to Byzantine Period and the copper hoard of the Seljuk Period are exhibited.

There are coins of Middle Age dukes of the Ottoman and Ilhanlı Periods in silver exhibited in other windows.

Byzantine Period (A.D. 476-1453)

The artefacts of this period are exhibited in the last window of the archaeological section. There are single handle cream coloured jugs, candles made of bronze, jewellery, communion wafer stamps, steel stamps and three earthenware plates obtained in 1992.
The works of art are made of brick coloured clay, large mouthed, concave bodied, round ring form. Inner and outer surfaces are yellow, and there are animal figures on the centres. On interior edges there are geometrical stars and calligraphic decorations (A.D. 12-13th century).

Section of Ethnographical Arts
The artefacts of this section are exhibited according to their types. On the south side of the hall, agricultural tools and accessories, yarn twisting and weaving tools are exhibited.

Kitchen Tools

Spouts, containers, buckets, bowls and pans made of copper reflecting the taste of the 19th century decorated with carvings made for daily use

Women Jewellery Artefacts

Accessories, jewellers, bracelets, necklaces, rings, head caps, silver knitted bags and belts reflecting the Ottoman Empire women's fashion made of silver, bafum and valuable stones

Mother-of-pearl cases

The cases showing rarely seen workmanship applied on wood during the Ottoman Empire Period, reddening case, spoons and "Souvenirs of Victory" with portraits of Atatürk and his friends during the National Independence War.

Weapons

The weapons of the Ottoman Empire from the early to late period are exhibited in three different windows including arrows, bows, knives, swords, fighting knives, axes, and sticks, golden rifles, pistols, metal cartridges, and steel moulds

Ceramics
A glazed bowl made in sigrafitto technique from the Seljuk Period, with an angel figure and blue white coloured Kütahya, Iznik, Çanakkale ceramics and jugs dating from the 17th-19th centuries of the Ottoman Empire.

Astronomy Instruments

The artefacts brought from the Beyazıt II Complex and used for the arrangement of azan times (call to ritual prayer) and astronomy education, are made of wood and exhibited along with kiblenumas, compass, land measuring and astromonical instruments.

Bath Sets
Towel sets and bath wear sets made of velvet, bowls and bath paraphernalia made of silver, dating from the Ottoman Empire Period.

Clocks

golden and silver clocks, pocket watches and wooden guards of wall clocks

Lamps
Blue, yellow and red glass and porcelain gas lamps used for lighting during the Ottoman Period.

Tea, Coffee and Tobacco Sets

Tea and coffee sets, coffee pans, coffee mills, pan and wooden coffee case, cup guards and samovar used during the Ottoman Empire Period are exhibited together with lighters, tobacco cases and pipes.

Clothes, carpets, bags

In the middle section of the ethnographical museum there are traditional bindalls, night clothes, waistcoats, regional motif wool socks, carpets, carrying bags of Amasya exhibited together with various types and sizes of money bags, glazed bags, neck cloths, scarves and men's belts.

Health Charms, Buhardanlık and Muskas

Here, health and evil eye charms, buhardanlık and clothes with prayers keeping the devil away in silver and various sizes with various techniques of processing are exhibited as well as candle holders in various sizes.

Qur'an Manuscripts

Here Qur'ans in handwriting, decrees of sultans with their signature, writing sets, ink pen tips and holders, paper scissors and ink pen holders, Qur'an cases and wooden rahles are exhibited.

Flags of the City

Two flags taken from the Sultan Beyazıt III Mosque are exhibited in the last section of ethnography:

Small flag of the city

With a signature of Sultan Reşit and the Ottoman emblem on one side and Kelime-i Tevhid printed on the other side

Great flag of the city

Known as the "Işkodra Flag", with the entire Besmele, Ayet-el Kürsi, and Fetih (Conquest) part of the Qur'an from the beginning until the 17th sentence printed on atlas and Besmele, Mümin Sure of the Qur'an and H.1326 in the middle.

Small flag of the city

There is the signature of Sultan Reşit and the Ottoman emblem on one side of a small flag and Kelime-i Tevhid is printed on the other side.

Great flag of the city
The entire Besmele, Ayet-el Kürsi, and Fetih (Conquest) part of the Qur'an from the beginning until the 17th sentence are printed on atlas; the middle has Besmele, Mümin Sure of the Qur'an and H.1326. It is known as the "Işkodra Flag".

Open Air Exhibition

In the museum garden located on the west side of the museum, large stone monuments of the Hittite, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Ilhanlı, Seljuk and Ottoman Periods are exhibited. Hittite Door Lions, Hellenistic and roman inscriptions from Esençay area and Doğantepe and tomb steles with busts, ionic and corinthian column heads, monumental parts of structures, vine leaf decorated tomb inscriptions, tomb steles from the Byzantine Period, embossed tomb inscriptions, construction inscriptions from Byzantine, Seljuk, Ilhanlı Periods, tomb stones in case type with heading and without headings, earthenware storage cubes and original column heads of the Sultan Beyazıt II Mosque demolished during the 1939 earthquake are exhibited here.

Roman Inscriptions

The foundations of the construction in Amasya Centre Yüzevler Quarter were found in the yard in the west part of the tomb. They are made of calcer stone with a dedicating inscription. This Greek inscription was made by the head of state of Pontus and dedicated to the Emperor of the Roman Empire Alexender Severus and his mother.

Mile Stones

Marble mile stones used as mile stones on the "Ancient Roman road" from Erba, Esençay, Yukarı Beraklı, Yassıçaal (Ebemi) and Zile and extending to various part of Amasya are exhibited. There is the number 21 on the stones found in Uygur town, and they contain names of Contantinus II and Diocletianus of Roman Empire and the names of governors. The artefacts are from A.D. 237-305.

Mummies

There are six mummies of the Ilhanlı Period within the Tomb of Sultan Mesud I in the museum garden. This section receives the most visitors.
The mummies belong to Şehzade Cumudar, Anatolian Governor, Emiri İşbuğu Nuyin, İzzettin Mehmet Pervane Bey, his wife, son and daughter. They were brought from the Amasya Burmalı Minare and Fethiye Mosque tombs.

Royal Tombs

There are stone tombs of kings in various parts of Amasya, which are Pontus kings' tombs, according to the historian Strabon from Amasya. The tomb called "Kızlar Sarayı (Girls' Palace)" by Strabon has five stone tombs in monumental style. The royal tombs were made in the locations overlooking the city, and they have remained intact until the present time.
Some stone tombs of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire ending Pontus rule are used as chapels. The stone tombs used for various purposes during the Ottoman and Seljuk Periods are open to pilgrims.
The Royal Tombs on the Kızlar palace location and the ones on the pilgrimage road to Aynalı Inn f km from the city are different from other royal tombs both in size and shape. They have an inverse U shape in comparison to the stone block where they are located. The other tombs do not have this characteristic. Therefore it can be said that those monumental tombs were of Pontus origin, and the others were made in small sizes and more simply and belong to some wealthy people of the Period (religious people).

HAZERANLAR HOUSE (ETHNOGRAPHY MUSEUM)

It is an example of civil architecture of the 19th century and was made by Hasan Talat Efendi working for Amasya Book Keeping Office. They were expropriated by the Ministry of Culture in 1977 and the restoration was started. The works were completed in 1979. In 1984 they were first exhibited and arranged to serve as the "Museum House".

The house is in the style of Safranbolu and Kastamonu houses in terms of architecture. The house is arranged in haremlik and selamlık (for women and men respectively) sections and has two floors above the basement. It has a middle sofa, four sitting rooms, and cornered rooms constructed in hımış technique, covered with a cradle roof. There are 11 rooms in the house and they are exhibited and arranged according to the ancient house decoration of Amasya.
The basement of the house has been serving as State Fine Art Gallery Directorate.

ALPASLAN MUSEUM

The first core of Alpaslan Town Municipality Museum, Taşova district, Amasya was formed from archaeological and ethnographical artefacts collected from the region in 1964. In 1991 a bath from the Ottoman Empire Period was arranged as a museum and in 1994 started to serve as Alpaslan Town Municipality Museum. There are ceramics, bronze and golden works of art reflecting the Old Bronze, Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman Periods. Furthermore, various fossils are exhibited. In the regional village room exhibition, there are samples reflecting the carpentry and wood carving of Seljuk and Ottoman Empires Periods.