The museum exists because of a death. Mustafa Gürer founded it in memory of his son Ali Gürer, who was killed young in a road accident, and it carries the son's name.
It opened in August 1994 alongside the first Hıdır Abdal Sultan cultural festival, with the governor of Erzincan of the day, Recep Yazıcıoğlu, and the commander of the Third Army, Teoman Koman, present. It gained official status on 7 February 1996 through an application to the Ministry of Culture, and is registered as a private museum.
The collection is ethnographic and began with objects the founder gathered himself; over time villagers from Ocak Köyü and the surrounding villages sent in more. It now holds 2,000 pieces in 220 square metres, and the museum says it was the first museum established in a village in this part of the country.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Erzincan as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -2.8 °C in January to 24 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (54 mm) and lightest in August (7 mm). Long-term means for 1928-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
