Museum displays Ottoman bridal trousseaus
AYDIN - Anatolia News Agency
Exhibition of bridal trousseau items. AA photo
Bridal trousseau items dating back to the Ottoman era are being displayed in an ethnography museum established in a shopping mall in Söke, a touristic district in the Aegean province of Aydın’s Muğla.Çağdaş Can Öztürk, who founded the Otantika Ethnography Museum with his brother Deniz, said that his family had been collecting bridal trousseaus from the 17th through 20th centuries from Aegean villages over the past 30 years in order to introduce Ottoman trousseau culture to new generations.
1,800 traditional items on display
Öztürk said the items are the best heritage left for them by their parents. “My brother and I have dreamed of displaying these items in a museum. We applied to the Culture and Tourism Ministry and founded an ethnography museum named ‘Otantika.’ We display 1,800 out of 4,000 Ottoman bridal trousseaus including traditional costumes like bindallı, boleros, shalwars, headscarves, laces, kerchiefs, waistbands, napkin towels, prayer and mawlid clothes, bathroom sets, daggers, watches, point laces and jewelry in the museum. We are now planning to open a new museum to display the rest of the items.”
Öztürk said they were also organizing special trips to the museum for students and teachers as well as foreign tourists coming to the Aegean towns of Kuşadası and Didim in the summer months for a holiday.
The brothers also plan to organize fashion shows to promote Ottoman trousseaus.