Bitlis Ahlat Museum

The museum which carries the remnants of many civilizations from past to present, was first opened to visitors in 1971. It has served across the region, as it is the only museum of its surroundings. When this museum, having welcomed its visitors until 2014, became inadequate in meeting today’s needs, it was turned into a new museum named as 'Ahlat Museum and Welcoming Center’ in 2014 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in accordance with the concept of contemporary museology. Indeed, it was 2018 when the museum was officially opened to visitors. The works in the museum are exhibited in four different areas known as Archeological Zone, Foyer, Courtyard and the Urban Memory. The works from the Chalcolithic Age, Early Bronze Age , Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze / Early Iron Age , Middle Iron Age ( Urartu ), Hellenistic Period, Roman Period, East Roman Period, Seljuk Period and Ottoman Period are all exhibited in the Archeological Hall. Located in ‘Urban Memory Hall’, the states prevailed in Ahlat and dashboards where brief information of the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey;  pertinent data about the region such as new revelations about the Seljuk Square Cemetery and the surrounding ruins , the wax statue of Sultan Alparslan and the visuals and basic information about the Battle of Malazgirt are displayed. In the ‘Foyer Area’, one witnessed the history of Ahlat ,information and visuals of Harabeşehir Caves ,which is the first settlement, the tombs and information boards about Akkoyunlu Period; Seljuk Square Cemetery Ruins and a map showing the location of the museum; the words of Evliya Çelebi about Ahlat mentioned in his Travel Book ; Oghuz stamps boards; panels with a quatrain taken from a poem written for Ahlat ; There are cubes and  a suspended ceiling panel with Seljuk Infinity motif on the ceiling . In the ‘Courtyard’,stone works,inscriptions,architectural pieces, cubes  and tomb stones belonging to the Islamic Period are exhibited.