Antique glass pieces on display in Gaziantep’s private museum

GAZİANTEP - Anadolu Agency

Füsun İşsever (above) and his husband Kamil İşsever bought an old Antep house and restored it to open the Medusa Glass Museum. AA photo

While Gaziantep’s museums and cultural venues continue to grow and advance, its first private museum displays a 15-year-old collection, which consists of antique items made of glass, archeological artifacts and ancient culture.

A couple from Turkey’s Gaziantep has established a museum, placing their 15-year-collection on display. The collection consists of Roman, Byzantium and glass artifacts in particular. The museum aims to share local culture and heritage with visitors. The couple had been collecting the artifacts for 15 years, having later decided to establish a museum instead of keeping the collection at their home. Kamil and Füsun İşsever has bought an Antep house, typical of civil architecture, and established a museum. The house museum is close to Gaziantep Castle.

Greek mythology

One of Greek mythology’s most intriguing antagonists was the source of inspiration for the couple in their conquest to officially name the museum, having finally come across Medusa as their muse for the museum’s name; the female monster known as a “Gorgon” was said to have the face of a hideous human female with living venomous snakes instead of hair. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. The Medusa Glass artifacts museum is an honor for the couple as they have found a way to share their collection with the public.

Stressing that the works meant more than money, İşsever said: “The museum is the fruit of our love. I spent most of my time here. Gaziantep is renowned for its cuisine and industry but it is a fact that it is also becoming increasingly well-known for its museums and culture.”

İşsever thinks that the city’s museums are multiplying with its cultural life experiencing a steady but welcome boom. In addition to its museums, Gaziantep’s beauty has gained quite the reputation among many, according to İşsever. “We aim to have share in this tourism and cultural life,” the couple added.

The first glass museum in Turkey

The first glass museum of Turkey was Medusa Glass Museum and it has many artifacts from different ancient era, added the couple, saying: “We can say that after Rahmi Koç’s collection, our museum comes [second].” On the other hand, the museum is the first private museum of Gaziantep, which makes the museum more valuable, according to the couple.

There are many artifacts such as glass, porcelain and handmade ancient covers and quilts. There are many ancient coins. Apart from the coins the museum has more than 500 normal and non-glass artifacts and each of them are ancient and valuable, the couple said. The visitors mostly visit the museum to see the glass works; they said and added there are total of 4 thousand glass works in the Medusa Museum.