Gaziantep’s cave area to become a history museum

GAZİANTEP- Anatolia News Agency

Gaziantep’s cave area will be Turkey’s largest history museum.

The 10,000 square-meter cave area in Gaziantep will be transformed into a museum, according to local mayor, Asim Güzelbey.

In a press conference, Güzelbey said he had been involved in establishing over 10 museums and was planning to build four more. “In the very near future, the largest history museum in Turkey will be in Gaziantep,” he said.

The caves in the Çıksorut region of Gaziantep were once used as a stockbreeding area. “Archeologists discovered that the caves turned out to have two stories, and as a resultthey spread to 10,000 square meters. We therefore decided to build the largest historical museum to this date in them,” Güzelbey said.
“In the caves there will be images of early and late history. We are planning to use trains to show people around, and there will be a small lake in the middle of the exhibition area … Everyone will come to Gaziantep for this museum,” he added. The team aims to open the museum before March 2014. “If we sell the area we may get 50 million Turkish Liras in revenue, but instead we will spend 20 to 25 million liras in building this museum,” he said, adding that construction to build a “Toy House,” “Atatürk House,” and “Hamam Museum,” were still ongoing.