Konya - Akşehir Museums

Konya - Akşehir Museums



AKŞEHİR MUSEUMS

The first settling findings of Akşehir, which has always been a settlement centre in the history, have been found in the Neolithic Age as a result of the surface researches. From that period to now, it has always been settled on and as it is on important passages, it has always been damaged. Akşehir, which is situated in Phrygia Parrore region, is known as Philomelion. The word “Philomelion” is written on silt stone found in a place near to today’s Centre. This silt stone, which is the only written document, can be seen in the Archaeology Museum.

Akşehir is one of the most important districts in the Inner Anatolia with its commercial, civic and natural side areas. This city that takes its part in the past and near history is a city worth to be seen with its religious architectural examples that have remained whole from the civil and Seljuks to now.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM (OTTOMAN SCHOOL MADE OF STONE)

The museum work in Akşehir starts with an official being charged by the Public Instruction Institution in 1946 to arrange and protect the old works of art. The arranged works were collected in the İmaret Mosque that wasn’t being used at those times. When the mosque was opened to worship in 1950, the works of art were transferred to Ottoman School made from stone. The museum business started in 1960 when a museum official was attended to the museum that was used as a depot. After the restorations and arrangements, the museum was opened to the public on June 8, 1965.

The Stone School was constructed as a collection of small mosque, tomb, khan, cultivation and fountain. The school has been founded by Fahreddin Ali, son of Chief Vizier Emirdad Sahipta in 1250 in the period of 2nd Keykubat, the son of 2nd Keyhüsrev, Sultan of the Anatolian Seljuks.

Only the small mosque and tomb and school that are built together have remained complete from the collection to now. The school is planned as open-façade and with four exedras. The main door and main exedra is in the south-north direction and two exedras are made vertically. In restorations made in different times, the exedra in the south has been made a room. There are porches made with gathered material on both sides of the façade. There are five rooms on the right side of the main door. The tomb is to the left of the entrance door. There is the script under the square-planned tomb. There are ornament belts made with enamel ware mosaic technique forming from geometric examples similar to cufic script on the skirt of the dome that only a few have remained to now. There is enamel ware in the middle of the dome.

There are many works in the museum, from the Neolithic Age to the end of the 19th century that the individual needs from birth to death. The richest collection among these works is the tombstones belonging to the Seljuk and Ottoman Period. The figured tombstones from the Seljuk period have an important place in the museum. These works of art are collected from Akşehir and its surroundings. These tombstones in the museum draw attention with the calligraphy tablets.

YALBURT HITTITE POOL

This pool is situated in the Yalburt arable field that is in 23km northeast of Ilgın village. It was found at the end of the engravings made by a group in 1972, 1973 and 1975 under the chairmanship of Raci Temizer, the Director General of Anatolian Civilizations Museum.
The pool is rectangular. There are 22 limestone block stones with hieroglyphics on a range of stone blocks. On one of these blocks, which represent the richest calligraphy in the Middle Anatolia, the name of Great King 4th Tuthalia is written. On these blocks, there are important information about Hittite history and the activities of 4th Tuthalia in this region.

This pool is a cultural monument made by the Great King of the Hittite State, which was a theocratic state.

AKŞEHİR WEST FRONT HEADQUARTER MUSEUM

As the enemy directed towards the east of Afyon-Eskişehir line after the victory of Sakarya Pitched Battle the west front headquarters in the Alagöz village moves to Akşehir. The headquarter that comes to Akşehir on November 18, 1921 settles down in the Municipality building. They worked in this building until they moved to the front for the Final Attack on August 24, 1922. During the nine and a half months period, the preparations for the Final Attack were directed from there, the plans were made and decisions were taken there. Within this period, Mustafa Kemal comes to Akşehir many times and inspects the studies, directs the plans. The building was constructed as the Municipality Building in the period of Lord Mayor Bostan Bey, in 1904-1905. The two-storey building is of stone foundation and the materials are brick, lath and plaster. The fronts of the shops in the east and west part of the ground floor of the building were closed and a pane was made with agraphyto technique to make the Final Attack preparations.

The headquarter building, which is the document of hope and struggle days, was donated to the Ministry on condition that it would be a museum, as the municipality had moved to another building in 1965. After great restorations, it was opened to the public on July 5, 1966 as “Atatürk and Ethnography Museum”. After the restoration and arrangement made in 1981, it takes its current name due to its function.

There is the administrative department on the ground floor of the museum. The upper floor is the room in the south corner in which Atatürk studied and great decisions were taken and which remained with its original materials from the headquarter period to now. The rooms on both sides of this room are the studying rooms of Headquarter Chief İsmet İNÖNÜ and Chief of the Staff Asım GÜNDÜZ. The wax statue of İsmet Pasha is put on his studying table. In the showcases in the room that is in the north corner, the materials presented to Atatürk and those were used by him and his weapons are displayed.
In the other four rooms, the bibliographies of the officers working in the headquarter quotations from “Nutuk”, tablets, photographs, maps, documents and weapons are displayed.