Sakarya Müzesi

Sakarya Museum is an archaeology and ethnography museum in the centre of Adapazarı, in the Semerciler neighbourhood, on the stretch of Milli Egemenlik Street that faces the station. It brings together archaeological finds from across the province and ethnographic pieces that tell the story of daily life in the region under one roof. Together with its garden, the museum covers an area of about 1,290 square metres. For anyone exploring the city for the first time, it is the best place to read Sakarya's long past in a short time. The building that houses the museum was originally a house from the early twentieth century. According to the Ministry's museum page, it was built between 1910 and 1915 by Major Baha Bey, then head of the military recruitment office, as a three storey residence including the ground floor. The house was later bought by Hasan Cavit Bey. It holds a special place in the city's memory as the house where Mustafa Kemal Pasha stayed in June 1922 during his trip to İzmit and Adapazarı, and where he met his mother Zübeyde Hanım, who had come from İstanbul. Sources give different days for that meeting; the Ministry gives 14 June, while the tourism brochure of the Metropolitan Municipality gives 17 June. The building was badly damaged in the 1967 earthquake. According to the Ministry page, it was registered as an example of civil architecture and expropriated in 1983. During the restoration its exterior was kept faithful to the original, while the interior was completely rebuilt in reinforced concrete. Today, from the street, you see a two storey mansion with a pink facade, arched windows and an external staircase with iron railings. The museum directorate began working as an office in 1989 and moved into the present building the same year. Once the finds from the province had been collected and the display was ready, the museum opened to visitors on 21 June 1993. When showcases and objects were damaged in the earthquake of 17 August 1999, the museum closed for a while. It reopened on 28 June 2003 after repair work. It is a good idea to begin in the garden, because it works as a small open air exhibition in its own right. Here stand architectural fragments, gravestones, altars and inscribed stones from the Roman and Byzantine periods, all found within the borders of Sakarya. Ossuaries, a large terracotta storage jar and column bases are also among the pieces in the garden. To look closely at the lettering and carving on the stones, choose the hours when the sun falls on them from the side. The exhibition hall is on the first floor and, according to the Ministry, measures about 85 square metres. It shows archaeological objects from prehistory through the Roman and Byzantine periods side by side with ethnographic items from the Ottoman and Republican eras. In the archaeological section you will see flat hand axes, terracotta vessels, perfume and tear bottles, and metal and glass objects. The municipal brochure notes that the collection also includes coins from the Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and Late Roman periods. The ethnographic section was assembled from objects selected from the ethnography museums of Bursa, Amasya, Konya, Tokat and Ankara. It displays firearms and blades, copper vessels, seals and embroidery, as well as some personal belongings used by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The second floor holds a conference hall for fifty people. Because the hall is small, you can see the museum without rushing in under an hour. The smoothest route is to follow the showcases in chronological order, from stone tools to glass and metal objects, and then move on to the ethnography section. The Ministry page states that admission is free and that the museum is closed on Mondays. Opening and closing times may change, so check the current information on the museum's official page before you go. As the museum is in the city centre, it is easy to reach by city public transport or on foot from the centre. The Earthquake Culture Museum lies in the same central neighbourhoods, a few hundred metres away, so the two museums fit comfortably into the same half day. Those who want to see Sakarya's Byzantine importance on the ground can continue southwest to the Justinianus Bridge and complete the story of the garden stones with the bridge's enormous arches.