Guide
TürkPusat is a museum of traditional arms and equipment in the old quarter below Ankara castle, beside the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. Its stated aim is to make traditional pusat — the arms and gear of war — known, and through that to keep a piece of cultural heritage alive. Archery comes first here, and the museum sets out the history, philosophy and technique of the martial arts around it.
Its collections are originals from different periods of Turkish military and sporting history, and they are presented with commentary rather than left to labels, so that the point is transmission of a tradition as much as display of objects.
What sets a visit here apart is that it need not be only looking. Under the museum's Pusat culture tour programme, visitors can add to the guided tour a basic course in traditional archery and take part in the workshop in the process of making the equipment itself. The address is Kale Mahallesi, Gözcü Sokak No: 9, Altındağ.
