Guide
The Bursa City Museum has occupied the city's old courthouse since 2004 and shows the changes Bursa has passed through over seven thousand years. Its purpose is to keep the historical and cultural inheritance of the city and to present it to visitors. It stands on Heykel Square in the centre of town, south of the Atatürk monument and beside the provincial government building.
The museum was created and opened on 14 February 2004 by Erdoğan Bilenser, then mayor of the metropolitan municipality. The building was put up in 1926 by Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi as a courthouse; the architect is thought to have been Kemalettin Bey. After the courts moved to a new building in 1999 it stood empty, and following restoration between 2001 and 2004 it was turned into a museum, work in which the architect Naim Arnas took part. Once the courts had moved out, various proposals were raised for the building — a restaurant, or a casino — but in the end it was decided that it should be the city museum.
The displays are made up of explanatory texts, pictures, photographic reconstructions, models, computer-based information and objects. The ground floor follows the order of time and the upper floor is arranged by theme. Wax figures of the six Ottoman sultans who lived in Bursa, sets recreating the old trading life and a topographic model of the city are among the things through which the museum tells its story.
The basement holds a thematic display called the Handicrafts Market, showing eighteenth-century Bursa. Sixteen shops — a shoemaker, a knifemaker, a confectioner and others — were reconstructed on the evidence of photographs of Bursa taken at the time by European travellers. Craftsmen present their work in weekend workshops here.
The ground floor carries the displays telling the history of Bursa in order: Bursa City of Civilisations, The First Footprints in Bursa, The Passage of Civilisations, An Empire is Born, The Ottoman Empire, The War of Independence, and Modern Bursa.
On the first floor are temporary exhibitions that change every four months, along with displays under the heading Bursa in its Life and Culture, covering entertainment and food, the story of Karagöz and Hacivat, the well-known figures of the city, and its customs and traditions.
Visit status for this record: open to visitors.
