Guide
The Antique Tractor Museum in the Gelibolu district of Çanakkale is, according to Turkish Wikipedia, the first museum of its kind in Türkiye. It was founded on 18 August 2014 by the businessman Dursun Keskin in memory of his son Reha Keskin, and opened as part of the nineteenth International Gelibolu Golden Sardine Culture and Art Festival. Keskin had noticed that tractor museums existed in Europe but not in Türkiye, and set out to make one.
More than seventy tractors of different models and makes are displayed over 1,500 square metres, together with spare parts. They were made in various countries and used in different parts of Türkiye between 1937 and 1964, and about sixty per cent of them are makes no longer produced. The oldest piece in the collection is a steam tractor by Nichols & Shepard, built in America in 1884 and used for many years in Belgium before being brought here from abroad.
The museum occupies a restored former fish factory on Kore Kahramanlar Caddesi in Gelibolu, laid out over two floors in the manner of European museums. There is a charge for entry.
