Ünye Müzesi

Ünye Museum, whose full name is the Ünye Living Cultural Heritage Museum, is housed in a historic mansion in Hamidiye neighbourhood in the centre of Ünye. The museum opened in 2013 after the mansion of Captain Server Bey was converted. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that the museum stands on Cumhuriyet Square, behind the Government House. It also notes that visitors can get directions from the tourist information office in the Government House. The construction date of the mansion is not known for certain. Because a stone in the house bears the Hijri date 1176, the building is estimated to have been built around 1759. Wikipedia notes, however, that this stone may have been taken from another building and reused here. The safest description of the mansion is therefore that it is an Ünye house dated to the 18th century whose history is not fully documented. The building is a traditional Ünye house built of timber on top of a stone ground floor. Its floor area is about 210 square metres. Careful woodwork can be seen in the ceilings, walls, cupboards and kitchen. The small stained-glass windows lined up on the facades just below the roof are the house's most easily recognised detail from outside. Around the house there is a large garden, a well and a stone trough used for washing laundry. The idea of founding a museum in Ünye goes back many years, but the first concrete step was taken in 2003. The process began with the wish of the mansion's last resident, Meliha Vural, to donate the house, and because there were many heirs it ended in expropriation in 2009. The building was purchased by Ünye Municipality on 14 April 2009 to be turned into a museum. The architect Melike Ünlü prepared the survey drawings of the house, and the project was submitted to the conservation council. The restoration was completed with the technical support of the Ünye-born architect Zeynep Ahunbay. According to a news report published in 2011, volunteers from the Ünye Local History Group also took part in the work, and the townspeople were asked to bring objects of historical value to the museum. The building first opened to visitors in 2013 under the name Museum House. The landscaping of the garden was carried out by the architect Sibel Cerrahoğlu. The objects on display are not those left by Server Bey but items donated by the public and by the last resident of the house. According to Wikipedia, the collection consisted of about 380 pieces in 2014, and by 2016 the number of registered pieces had reached 783. The rooms have been given the names of people who lived in the mansion, such as the Captain Server Bey Room and the Meliha-Ali Rıza Erüş Room. There are also sections arranged as the main room and the kitchen. The displays include swords and daggers, old cameras, a hand mill, a typewriter, a sewing machine, an iron, a spinning wheel, lamps, kitchenware and old clothing. Using the existing items, a bedroom, a room with a divan and a kitchen have been set up in their old arrangement. The provincial directorate writes that visitors will come across embroidered bundle wraps and dowry chests here. Walking through these rooms, the daily rhythm of old domestic life in Ünye easily comes to life. The garden is at least as interesting as the interior. On display here is a marble gravestone with a Greek inscription, the only known surviving remnant of an old Greek cemetery in the town. Two grape-pressing troughs found in Bayramca, gravestones with Ottoman Turkish inscriptions and a stone mortar are also among the pieces in the garden. The courtyard also displays the first lighthouse lamp of Ünye. Because the museum is in the town centre, it is easily reached on foot while exploring the historic streets of Ünye. As the old house is small in scale, setting aside a short time is enough to tour the rooms unhurriedly while looking at the woodwork details. Since opening hours and visiting conditions can change, ask the operator for current information before you go. Combining the museum with Ünye Castle and a walk along the shore makes a good plan for getting to know the district in a single day.