Düzce Konuralp Museum

Düzce Konuralp Museum

DÜZCE KONURALP MUSEUM

Konuralp Museum, located at the entrance of Konuralp Town on the Düzce-Akçakoca highway, consists of 3 exhibition halls including archeology, ethnography, and stone artifacts hall, 2 coin sections, 1 laboratory, 2 warehouses, 1 conference hall, and administrative parts. With the understanding that historical artifacts in Konuralp should be protected, the construction of the museum building started in 1977 and was completed in 1992. Konuralp Museum, which was opened to visitors after the exhibition arrangement was made on November 12, 2003, served as a subordinate unit of the Bolu Museum, and in December 2009 it turned into the staff of the Directorate. The museum has a total of 6081 works.

Artifacts belonging to the ancient city of Prusias and Hypium are exhibited chronologically in the archeology hall. While artifacts from the Bronze Ages, Hellenistic Ages, and Roman periods are exhibited, most of the artifacts are from the Roman Period, when the city lived its heyday. Terracotta artifacts, flasks, oil lamps, unguenteriums, alabastron, spindle whorls, pots, amphorae, bronze ornaments and jewelry, glass cups, goblets, and glass unguenteriums are some of them. In addition, coins consisting of gold, silver, and bronze samples from the Bithynia (Prusias), Roman and Ottoman periods are exhibited in the coin section in the archeology hall.

In the ethnography hall; Artifacts belonging to the traditional Ottoman-Turkish culture from the 19th century to the present are exhibited. Handicrafts, some local clothes, ornaments, kitchen utensils, enlightenment tools, personal items, swords, rifles, etc. are exhibited. Also in this hall, there are traditional home decorations and the bride's room, which are animated with mannequins.

In the garden of the museum, a number of artifacts unearthed in the ancient city of Prusias and Hypium are exhibited. The most important of these is the Marble Sarcophagus, which was found in 1937 in the Tepecik region of Konuralp. This richly decorated sarcophagus, dating to the 2nd century A.D from the Roman Period, is striking with its craftsmanship and the uninscribed 'tabula ansata'. Again, votive inscriptions (bomos), city law inscriptions, grave steles, ostotheks, which are stone chests in which the ashes of burnt dead were put, architectural blocks reflecting the advanced marble workmanship of the Roman Period, pithoi with Gorgo depictions, which are indispensable ornamental elements of architectural elements, as well as tombstones those belonging to the Ottoman Period are among the other artifacts on display.

Also, on the floor of a Roman Villa on the Düzce-Akçakoca highway, one of the mosaics depicts the epic poet of Greek mythology, Orpheus and the seasons, and on the other, a scene about the Greek mythology hero Achilleus and his mother Thetis (sea goddess). Restoration of the mosaics began on July 2, 2012.

The presentation was prepared by the Düzce Konuralp Museum in order to promote the important works of the Bithynia Region within the scope of the Inter-Museum Thematic Cooperation Network, which will be attended by museums from 4 provinces, including Düzce, accepted within the scope of the European Union Project under the coordination of the Eastern Marmara Development Agency (MARKA). It will be shown on the Greek island of Lesbos and an exhibition will be held here, and important works of the Bithynia Period will be introduced.

The Ancient City of Düzce, Prusias Ad Hypium, Düzce Konuralp Museum, located in Konuralp Town, awaits its visitors as a museum that brings the past to the present.