Documents reveal history of Troy Museum

ÇANAKKALE

In a research conducted by Troy Museum (former Çanakkale Museum) officials into the state archives, a document revealed that one of the oldest public institutions in the city is the Çanakkale Museum.

The research about the establishment of the museum started in September and ended in December last year.

Troy Museum Director Rıdvan Gölcük said, “We found a very important document regarding the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum. The document is from 1911. It documents that the place, used as the first museum building, was not the Armenian Church as it is known. The first museum building was the Çanakkale High School, which serves as a teachers’ house today.”

The Troy Museum was known to have been established in 1936 but the research in the state archives revealed that the museum was established in 1911. Information about the first director of the museum and documents regarding the improvement of the collection was also found in the archives.

Stating that they worked on the history of museums in Çanakkale, Gölcük said: “We wanted to learn more about the museum’s corporate history. In many publications, the establishment date and place of the Çanakkale Museum are shown differently. We conducted most of our work in state archives. We found a very important document regarding the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum. The first document is about an appropriation request for the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum, which is 10,000 Turkish kuruş. We found that the place used as the first museum building is not the Armenian Church as we know but the Çanakkale High School, which was converted into a teachers’ house.”

Gölcük noted that the first museum in the Ottoman was the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, then the Bursa and Sivas museums.

“The Çanakkale Museum was one of the earliest museums on the Ottoman land, too. We will be celebrating the 111th anniversary of the museum this year. This document also showed us how old the history of Turkish museums is, but that we need to work on it to get more information. Therefore, it is an extremely important document for the Çanakkale Museum as well as for the history of Turkish museums. It is seen that one of the oldest public institutions in Çanakkale is the Çanakkale Museum,” Gölcük said.