Guide
The Manisa Ottoman Museum stands in the Yunusemre district of Manisa and shows work on Ottoman themes. It was opened by the Yunusemre municipality as part of a project meant to add to the historical and cultural tourism of the city, under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Hundred Projects in the Hundredth Year programme. The museum was carried out under the eye of the mayor, Dr Mehmet Çerçi, with the archaeologist Barış Sağıroğlu and his team working on its making, and it opened in the second half of 2021.
The display runs from the rise of the Ottoman empire through to its fall. Much of it consists of figures: the Ottoman princes who grew up in the sancak of Manisa, well-known Turkish thinkers, and scenes of everyday Ottoman life. There are also statues and scenes of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, of heroes of the national struggle from Manisa, and of Yunus Emre and Tapduk Emre.
The building lies inside the Yunus Emre Culture Park. It is one of four mansions put up by the municipality in the Ottoman manner, mostly meant to serve the public; this one was leased for forty-nine years for use as a museum.
The mansion has two floors, with six halls and two corridors inside. Its door is of teak and about three hundred years old, its face covered all over with flower motifs, geometric patterns and rumi work.
The hall that greets visitors at the entrance carries figures explaining how coffee culture spread and what coffee meant to the Ottomans. Another part of the entrance holds statues showing the old Turkish soldier from childhood through to adulthood.
The museum is open on weekdays from 09.00 to 17.00 and at weekends from 10.00 to 18.00.
