The building itself is the first thing to notice: it was put up entirely in timber, built by the children of Ahmet Hamdi İshakoğlu according to his will, in the Eskipazar quarter of Çayeli.
Inside, the way of life of Çayeli and the wider Rize country is shown through the tools and implements people actually used, set out in scenes rather than cases. The scenes cover beekeeping, the raising of hawks, the making of grape molasses, bread baked on the pileki stone, Rize cloth woven on a feretiko loom, tea production, fishing, and a horon dance team.
The museum was founded in 2012 and transferred to Çayeli Municipality, and in 2015 the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums granted it the status of a private museum.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Rize as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.8 °C in February to 23.3 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in October (294 mm) and lightest in May (97 mm). Long-term means for 1927-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
