Guide
The building that houses the Yalova City Museum is a reconstruction, not a survival. The original on the site was the Yalova Government House, and it was pulled down in 1968; what stands there now was rebuilt from its plans so that the museum could occupy it.
The first building went up because the town changed status. Yalova became a kaza, a district, in 1900, and an administrative seat was needed to match. Construction was put in hand and the Government House opened in 1908, though it came into full use only from 1913, and it was built by Hacı Artin Kalfa, one of the contractors of the day. It stood opposite the old Yalova pier and held the offices of a number of official bodies, the municipality among them, which ran the town's public business from there for many years; the archive records show the municipal offices being moved out after 1913 as the need for space grew. During the occupation of Yalova the building was taken over as a headquarters by a Captain Dimitri. It was regarded as one of the best-made structures of its period, which is part of why its demolition still counts in the town's memory.
Rebuilding it as a museum was a deliberate, slow process. The work was started under the coordination of the City Council with the provincial governorship and the municipality taking part, and the first consultative meeting was held on 9 January 2010, opening the shape of the museum to public institutions, civil society organisations and the private sector. The restitution and reconstruction projects were approved on 20 April 2010 by decision number 1417 of the Kocaeli Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property, and the Yalova City Museum opened on 15 May 2013.
What it sets out to hold is the memory of the town: the history of Yalova from its past to the present, its social life, its cultural values and the process of change it has been through.
