Guide
The MKE weapons museum in Kırıkkale was founded on 15 July 1990 within the light weapons factory there, under its first name, the Silahsan private weapons museum. Most of the collection came from the arms factory at Tophane in İstanbul. The rest is made up of weapons gathered during the Second World War, when a large part of what was collected was melted down to make barrel steel; pieces that stood out for their history or their workmanship were set aside and preserved, and those are what is on display.
Alongside the historical collection there is a section for modern weapons, where the arms MKE produces domestically are shown and explained to visitors. The museum moved to new premises in the city centre in 2022 through MKE's own initiative. The site covers about 3,500 square metres and holds, besides a two-storey administrative building, a museum building with a training hall, a cafeteria and the exhibition area. It is on Millet Bulvarı in central Kırıkkale, reachable by city transport.
