Everything apiculture at Aydın’s Çine museum

AYDIN - Anadolu Agency

In the museum, visitors can get information about apiculture from the ancient times to present. AA photos

The ins and outs of apiculture, a centuries-old phenomenon whose beginnings can be witnessed today through ancient inscriptions and the like on cave walls, are the focus of the Aydın’s Çine Apiculture Museum in Turkey’s west.

Apiculture technician and Çine Apiculture Museum official Hüseyn Basri Çalışkan said that the museum, which has been designated as a private museum by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, was affiliated with Adnan Menderes University (ADU).

He said that the museum was the first one of its kind in Turkey and the 77th in the world, adding that visitors were able to see the drawings of ancient peoples on cave walls, examples of hives that were used in ancient Greece, apiculture reliefs on Egyptian tombs and today’s modern hives.

“The development of apiculture from early, primitive hives to their modern equivalent is on exhibit at the museum. The imitation of cave paintings relating apiculture in the era before Christ, Lycian type hives, decorations and relieves on Egyptian pyramids can be seen here,” he said.

Items found in Ephesus

Also, coins with bee figures, which have been found in the ancient city of Ephesus, hives of 75,100 and 200 years, honey spoons from the Ottoman palace kitchens, as well as many apiculture tools are among the other items displayed at the museum, according to Çalışkan. “Visitors examine all these things and get to know about the historical development of apiculture,” he said.

Çalışkan said that they were also trying to rid children’s fear from bees, adding, “Through smell and observation hives, we want children to get rid of their fear from bees. When they visit the museum, they can hear the sound of hives and feel its smell. They watch the bees behind glass hives and observe their relations. We give information about apiculture to children. In this way, they become to love bees when leaving the museum.”

The museum, which is open six days a week, provides training on apiculture for beekeepers. It has a 40-person education hall that is used for various events, a café, kids park, painting workshop and a playing area where 2000-year-old Roman and Turkish plays are performed.