Latest literature museum opens in Erzurum

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The Erzurumlu Emrah Literature Museum Library is locatted in an old hamam building that has been restored to its original condition and is home to 5,000 books.

Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry has opened the Erzurumlu Emrah Literature Museum Library in the eastern province of Erzurum after opening library-museums in a number of other cities.

The Erzurumlu Emrah Museum welcomes visitors in an old hamam building that has been restored in accordance with its original. It is home to some 5,000 books and other materials by nearly 1,000 writers, as well as 87 periodicals published in Turkey on literature and arts. There is also a special collection of writers living in Erzurum and surrounding cities.

The library also has an area where books which have received awards in the field of arts and literature will be exhibited. The digital copies of 23 periodicals that have been published in Erzurum can also be seen in the museum library along with nearly 400 books about Erzurum in a different section, the Erzurum Public Library.

According to a written statement from the ministry, officials are also preparing to open the Evliya Çelebi Literature Museum Library in the inner Aegean province of Kütahya. The ministry is also searching for a place to open the Atilla İlhan library in İzmir and the Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu museum in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

The libraries, which have contributed to the development of literary culture in other countries, are now becoming increasingly popular in Turkey.

The network of museums bear the names of renowned Turkish writers such as Ankara’s Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Adana’s Karacaoğlan, Istanbul’s Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and Diyarbakır’s Ahmed Arif literature museum libraries.

The literature museum libraries, the idea of which has been inspired by literary houses and museums named after renowned writers in various parts of the world, are home to contemporary and literary publications, as well as manuscripts and rare printed works.

The museums also present all works that have been translated as part of the Translation Subvention Project, which is being conducted by the ministry to open the doors for Turkish literature to foreign countries.