Ancient civilizations on show at Amasra Museum

The Amasra Museum, home to more than 3,000 archaeological and ethnographical artifacts from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Genoese, Seljuk and Ottoman periods, reveals the northern province of Bartın's 5,000-year-old history. 

The Amasra district, where the museum is located, bears the name of Persian queen Amastris, who ruled the city after the Lydians. 

The museum opened in 1969 at a primary school building after many artifacts were consecutively extracted from the region. The museum moved to its new place in 1982 after the building of a navy school was bought by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. 

With four exhibition halls, the museum displays pieces extracted from graves such as tear glasses, golden and bronze jewelries, bronze statuettes, bracelets, hooks, crosses, weapons, candles, as well as copper kitchen tools, writing tools, chandeliers, seals, scales, ceramics, rings and traditional dresses. 

As part of UNESCO's cultural heritage works, the restoration work in the museum has neared an end and is set to reopen this year. The museum also hosts primary and secondary school and university students by organizing educational activities. 

Historic atmosphere from early Bronze Age to Ottoman era

The museum's director, Baran Aydın, said Amasra currently had a population of 6,500 but believed there were more people in the ancient times. 

The population in the ancient times was between 20,000 and 25,000, he said. "Therefore, there were many ancient settlements on the plain fields of the district. Many artifacts are brought to the museum although there is no archaeological works around. These artifacts were coincidentally found during constructions works," he added. 

Aydın...