Historical stone building becomes Hatay City Museum

ANTAKYA

The history, daily life and culture of the southeastern province of Hatay, dubbed the city of “coexistence,” will be introduced at the City Museum. The museum opened in a historical stone building that served as the Antakya Archeology Museum for 66 years until 2014.

The artifacts in the stone building, which was built in 1934 upon the advice of French archaeologist Claude M. Prost and began serving as the Antakya Archaeological Museum when Hatay joined the Turkish Republic in 1934, were transformed to the Hatay Archaeology Museum in 2014 for a better display.

Within the scope of the work started to gain the historical stone building, which was left empty for six years, in tourism, the survey and restoration projects were approved by the Adana Cultural and Heritage Preservation Board. The restoration and landscaping of the historical stone building has been completed.

The museum is set to open next month. It will introduce the city’s history, trade, production, daily life and food culture in six sections.

Also, the Hatay State Museum, which is home to the wax sculptures of Tayfur Sökmen, the only president of the Republic of Hatay before joining the Turkish Republic, and of those who were in Parliament, was moved to the new museum, too.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Hatay Governor Rahmi Doğan said that Hatay is an important city due to its history, culture and gastronomy.

Stating that they redesigned the former museum as a City Museum, Doğan said: “The City Museum was designed in six exhibition halls. There are sections describing the daily life, production, trade, gastronomy and history of Hatay. There is also Hatay State Museum in an exhibition hall inside. In fact, this was a section inside the Hatay Governor’s Office building, our citizens who came to this building had the opportunity to see this place only. We included this section in the Governor’s Office in the new museum. Here, it will be opened as the sixth exhibition hall.”

Stating that a very large number of tourists are hosted especially in the city on weekends, Doğan said that they can visit the Hatay Archeology Museum, Necmi Asfuroğlu Archeology Museum, Medical and Aromatic Plants Museum, Thematic Agriculture Museum and St. Pierre Museum of Monument as well as the City Museum.

Doğan noted that they are doing important works to revive the tourism of the city, adding, “When it comes to Hatay, gastronomy comes to mind. People come to Hatay to try different tastes because the appetizer culture and food varieties here really satisfy our guests. We have different alternatives; people see history, culture and art and know about the different tastes here.”