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The Gaziantep Mevlevi
Lodge Foundation Museum
The museum is located in the court
of Tekke Mevlevihane Mosque.
The mosque was built by Mustafa
A¤a in 1639 as Mevlevihane.
In 2007, the building was restored
as “Gaziantep Mevlevihanesi
Vak›f Museum”. The main purpose
of this museum is to introduce
the culture of our ancestors and
attract more tourists to see our
cultural heritage. It was opened
by Vak›flar Genel Müdürlü¤ü as
the first Islamic Arts Museum of
Southern Anatolia Region. At this
museum, one can learn about the
Mevlevi culture, and see artifacts,
some of the exquisite samples of
Turkish calligraphy art.
The Mevlevihane building is located
in a courtyard and built with
cut stones. The courtyard has
three doors which all open to different
streets. In the courtyard,
there are two Selaml›k buildings.
One of them has two stories and
the other one has three stories.
Semahane and the masjid are the
oldest buildings of Mevlevihane.
One of the unique features of this
structure is that there is a street
goes under the minaret.
The museum is enriched by the
examples of Turkish calligraphy
art, and handwritten Qurans decorated
with gold and silver by the
art of gilding and paper marbling
(Ebru Art). There are also some
prayer beads, a Quran lectern
from Ottoman period, antique
clocks, candlesticks, and cressets.
Bayazhan City Museum
The museum was built by Bayaz
Ahmed A¤a and his business partner.
At the time, he was a tobacco
merchant. He was exporting
Gaziantep’s Hasankeyf Tobacco to
Egypt. He brought architects and
sculptors from Aleppo. The construction
started in 1905 and took
about 5 - 6 years.
During World War I, British troops
used Bayazhan as cantonment.
A section of the building
was used as a prison during Antep’s
Defense. One of the salons of
the building was used as a movie
theatre as well. The first movie in
the city was shown in Bayazhan.
After Bayaz Ahmed A¤a deceased
in 1919, half of the building was
passed to his family and the other
half to his business partner. His
partners share was passed to Tekel
Headquarters.
Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality
purchased the building in
2005. The restorations on the building
started in 2007 and were
completed in 2008. Bayazhan
City Museum is located in the upper
level of the building where the
history of Gaziantep and Antep
Defence is being depicted with
mannequins. Some of the unique
features of the city such as coppersmithing,
tinning, making of
yemenis, local embroideries, silver
embroidery, art of the mother of
pearl, handmade rugs and kilims,
art of making baklava, and Antep
pistachio are being introduced
with short documentaries. Mannequins
dressed in local costumes
are displaying the making of handicrafts,
production of baklava,
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weaving of kilims, and the making
of Antep embroideries.
Bayazhan City Museum has a good
source of information for tourists.
It has information about the
subjects like Gaziantep’s economy,
touristic places in the city,
natural beauties, accommodation
options, and what to eat and
drink.
At the entry level of the building,
there are some salons reserved for
different purposes such as one
which will be used for formal receptions,
one which will be used
as an exhibition hall of sister cities,
one which will be used as a research
lab for researchers related
to Gaziantep, one which will be
used as a restaurant serving only
Gaziantep Delicacy, and the rest
will be used as a exhibition hall,
cafeteria, gift shop, for conventions,
information center, and art
studios.
Emine Gögüfl Culinary
Museum
Over the years, many civilizations
came to this land, Gaziantep,
from different cultures, different
religions, and ethnic backgrounds.
They all left something behind
from their cultures. That is how
today’s Gaziantep’s culinary culture
was created. Each ingredient
was added by a different civilization
or culture.
The Culinary Museum is located
on the south end of Fortress of
Gaziantep. It was built as Kethüaczade
Gö¤üfl ‹brahim Efendi’s
Mansion in 1905. Its building
style resembles Gaziantep architecture.
The building was restored
by Metropolitan Municipality and
transformed into a museum. In
this museum, a traditional Gaziantep
kitchen culture is being introduced
to new generations. In
this place, one can go through the
whole cooking experience with real
kitchen utensils. The visitors
are also given some information
about Gaziantep Delicacy, kitchenware,
ingredients, local beverages,
and food storage methods.
The making of Antep’s famous
dish “Yuvarlama”, setting up the
guest table and preparation of
special beverages are demonstrated
before the visitors.
A Panorama of Heroism
The gallery is located inside the
fortress of Gaziantep. It is being
set up as a panorama of heroism
to honor and reenact the Turkish
War of Independence.
In historical literature, Gaziantep’s
Defense and its liberation
are written as an epic. In this panorama
this legend or epic is being
reenacted by pictures, statues,
embossments, and replicas. They
are all telling visitors how the city
was occupied by foreign troops,
ententes (agreements) signed, heroes
fought in the front lines, assailments,
movements, hardships,
liberation from occupying forces,
bravery of women, children, and
elderly; basically, heroism and the
story of Antep people are being
told in this gallery in chronological
order.