Tunceli Museum: A Journey Through History and Culture

Tunceli Museum was built as a military barracks between 1935-1937 and used for this purpose until 1949. From 1949 to 1990, it became a civil servants' housing, and from 1990 to 2015, it was allocated to the homeless people.

The archeology exhibition consists of two halls. Representing prehistoric times with 116 works registered in the museum inventory in 5 showcases in the first hall; artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods are exhibited.

In 11 of the 13 display cases in the second hall, there are 240 works registered in the museum inventory, representing the Early and Middle Age Periods, which began with the discovery of writing in the early Bronze Age.

All coins registered in the inventory book of Tunceli Museum are displayed in the exhibition hall. 4 of the showcases containing 170 coins belong to the Islamic and Turkish-Islamic Period, and the other 4 showcases represent the pre-Islamic Period.

This hall, which reflects the local culture of Tunceli, has exhibitions on clothing, embroidery, jewelry and traditional handicraft culture, as well as works from the Turkish-Islamic Period.

Inside the hall, there are tombstones representing one of the important cultural circles of the Tunceli province. Tombstones typologically consist of a selection of sarcophagus-shaped pieces and figurative ram- and horse-shaped tombstones.

In this hall, there are information panels consisting of various works, animations and visual texts describing the recent local culture, flora and fauna of Tunceli.

In the section the Alevi-Bektashi belief culture is explained, including its rituals, 12 Imams, the semah ritual and 12 officials in the Djem ceremony, the prayers and gulbengs recited in Djem ceremonies.

Alevi hearths and faith centers in Tunceli are explained through written and visual information panels, documentary films and animations made of wax sculptures.

Click here to take a 360° tour of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum.