Edirne Museum

Edirne Museum is in Edirne, Turkey

Location

The museum is in the center of Edirne on Kadirpaşa Mektep street. It is next to the famous Selimiye Mosque at.

History

The museum was established in 1925 in a medrese of the Selimiye Mosque with instruction of Atatürk by Dr. Rifat Osman, Arif Dağdeviren and Necmi İğe. Although it was originally planned as an archaeology museum, it also contained many ethnographic items. On 25 November 1936 a second medrese building was added to the museum. On 13 June 1971 the museum was moved to the new museum building which was built next to former building. The architect of the new building was İhsan Kıygı.

The archaeology section

The first displays are about the Paleontology. Bones of elephant, rhinoceros and horse are displayed. Among the archaeological displays there are some remains from the Chalcolithic age. But the Majority of the items are from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empire ages. Especially the terra-cotta Aphrodite figurines are notable. There are also funerary steles of Thracians

The ethnography section

This section includes mostly items from the Turkish age, including the carpets in the bride and circumcision rooms, closets and various clothing. There are special sections for the hamam and the living room of a typical old Edirne house.