Çankırı Museum

Museum activities in a professional sense in Çankırı have started with the exhibition of 116 pieces of works gathered from surroundings on the date of June 9th, 1972 at the downstairs (Public Training Center) of Community Center. The museum serviced in 100. Yıl Culture Center between the years 1981-2017.  

Due to the increasing number of works in inventory and the inadequate physical conditions of the building, a new one was sought. Therefore, after the restoration process, the former Çankırı Government Office was used to be the new museum building by 2017.

As being one of the Late Ottoman Period buildings, the former Çankırı Government Office was built in 1905. With the pinnacle over the basement, it’s threefold. The folds consist of rooms opened out to a wide sofa. The basement is constructed with walls rising with the masonry stone where the other folds are with adobe filling between wooden carcasses. As the entrance, the hall is emphasized by four wooden poles supporting to go upstairs at the north front. The historical building was served as The Governship until 1985, and then The Courthouse until 2012.

The museum, designed with modern museology practices, consists of Natural History, Archeology and, Ethnography departments.

In the natural history department, the fossil findings unearthed from Çorakyerler Fossil Locality scientific excavation performed under the presidency of Academician Prof. Dr. Ayla Sevim EROL and dated to 8-8,5 million years ago, to Late Miocene Age are exhibited.

Both herbivores as giraffes, elephants, and rhinoceroses, and the saber-tooth tiger (carnivora) fossil -a species unique to Anatolia- are among the most interesting findings in the exhibition. Çorakyerler Fossil Locality, placed in the center of Çankırı, has an important role in the World Paleontology Literature in terms of the integrity of findings and faunal diversity.

In the archaeological artifacts section on the ground floor of the museum, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, and Eastern Roman Period artifacts are exhibited in chronological order. Coins from the Archaic Period to the Turkish-Islamic States belonging to Anatolia and its surroundings, and also glass artifacts including bowls, glasses, jugs, perfume bottles, bracelets, rings, and beads belonging to the Hellenistic and Roman Periods are arranged in separate sections.

Ethnographic works reflecting the lifestyle of the people and the socio-cultural characteristics of the region are presented on the 1st floor of the museum. The ethnographic issues that have emerged with pre-industrial manual labor in the Ottoman and the Early Republic Period, which sheds light on the recent history of Çankırı and its surroundings are been presented to visitors with thematic exhibitions under the titles of; “Traditional Kitchen and Kitchen Equipment”, “Turkish-Islamic Works”, “Weaving”, “Traditional Clothing”, “Yaran Culture”, “Mevlevi Culture”, “Weapons”, “Medicine-Healing”, “Lighting”, “Weight Measurement Tools” and “Istiklal Road”.