Beşkonaklar — 'the five konaks' — on Sinema Caddesi in the centre of Malatya is one of the surviving pieces of the city's traditional domestic architecture, and the Malatya ethnography museum occupies part of it. Hacı Sait Efendi (Turfanda) and his brothers built it for some of the city's leading families. It began as a two-storey konak with a rooftop belvedere, a projecting bay and a balcony, and four more houses in the same design were built onto it as a single composition.
Each house has two floors. A double-leaf door opens into the hayat or taşlık, the hall generally used for sitting in summer, which gives onto a rectangular courtyard; the rooms on either side of it served as kitchen, hearth room, pantry and living rooms. Upstairs there is a central hall with rooms around it. The museum house is built of mudbrick and has a garden.
On display are everyday objects of the Ottoman and Republican periods and the crafts of the Malatya region: fabric block-printing, local dress, men's accessories, purses for money and for watches, watches, women's accessories and jewellery, handwork, kitchen tools and vessels, lighting, firearms and blades, farming and weaving implements, measures and scales, seals, locks, door knockers and musical instruments.
The museum is in the city centre, within walking distance. The building was damaged in the earthquake of 6 February 2023 and closed that day for strengthening, maintenance and repair.
Getting there
- Access
- In the city centre, within walking distance. The directorate records that the museum was damaged in the earthquake of 6 February 2023 and is closed for repair; check before travelling.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Malatya as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -0.2 °C in January to 27.2 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in April (55 mm) and lightest in August (4 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 08:00 - 17:00
