Çorum Museum takes visitors on historical journey

ÇORUM

Çorum Museum, which is called the “Topkapı Palace of Anatolia,” takes its visitors on an unforgettable historical journey. Home to artifacts from eight civilizations, the museum awaits history buffs with 15,000 artifacts on display.

The Çorum Museum, which was built as a hospital in 1914 and then served as a school, has a history of 108 years and is among the few architectural works in Türkiye. The historical building was turned into a museum in 2003.

While the Central Anatolian province of Çorum has an important place in the field of archeology in Türkiye, historical artifacts that have been unearthed during archaeological excavations such as Hattusa Şapinuva, Alacahöyük, Eskiyapar and Resuloğlu are being exhibited in the museum.

In addition to being Türkiye’s first boarding museum, Çorum Museum, which is registered as an Immovable Cultural Heritage site, has been renewed before the new tourism season.

With the new arrangement in the museum, where rare artifacts are on display, some artifacts were put on showcase for the first time. The glass showcases on the fourth floor of the museum, where gold artifacts from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Eastern Roman periods are shown, were changed.

The majority of the 115 gold and semi-precious stones, jewelry and ornamental artifacts in the museum warehouse have been brought to the country through confiscation, purchase and excavations, the artifacts are valuable examples of rich metalwork produced with the impressive ideas of the ancient period.

Among the rarest artifacts in the museum is a 3,600-year-old bronze Hittite seal, which was used in the correspondence between the king and the clerk during the Hittite period and was seized by the police when it was about to be smuggled abroad in a cream box. There is also a Hittite bracelet, which is unique in the world, made of precious metals such as bronze, nickel, silver and gold. It was found by a farmer in his field.

A 3,300-year-old bronze warrior helmet, found in archaeological excavations at Şapinuva ruins in the Ortaköy district, is priceless. The warrior helmet, which was brought to the world of science by the late Mustafa Süel after it was found in 2002, is unique in the world. Due to the fact that bronze war materials were taken as booty in wars and the bronze was melted down and reused in other productions, the helmet, which has been crushed and destroyed, is very important in terms of being the only example that has survived from the Hittite Empire period.

The helmet, presented as a gift to the God of Storm in mythology, began to be exhibited in the museum.

One of the rarest artifacts in Çorum Museum is a gold medallion with the figure of Jesus Christ engraved on the Najaf stone, which treasure hunters have unearthed during illegal excavations. The medallion, seized in a successful operation of the gendarmerie teams when it was about to be smuggled abroad, is approximately 1,500 years old.

Metin Çakar, Director of Çorum Museum, said that due to the pandemic that affected Türkiye and the world in 2020, there was a serious decrease in the number of visitors in museums and they had a dull period in the last few years.

Çakar stated that they are renovating the showcases of museums for the new season at a time when the pandemic has gradually lost its effect on the world and in our country.

“We believe that there will be a significant increase in the number of visitors this year. Especially over the last few months, we have made many innovations in the museum. There are many unique artifacts in the collection obtained from both archaeological excavations and as a result of efforts by the police force,” he said.