Manisa Akhisar Museum

The building, which was built in 1932 and used as the Ali Şefik School for many years, was converted into a museum after the repair made by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and opened to visitors on May 18, 2012. The museum is a single story and consists of three sections: Archeology Section, Ethnography Section, and Arasta. In the archeology section, in addition to information and exhibitions on the history and artifacts of Akhisar, fossil samples dating to earlier than 18-11 million years B.C from the coal mines in the district of Soma, marble idols, fragments of marble vessels, and drill stones belonging to the Akhisar-Kulaksızlar idol workshops, one of the most important idol workshops of the Chalcolithic Period in the Aegean Basin, are the earliest finds. The Yortan Vessels, which were discovered during the research carried out by Paul Gaudin in the Necropolis of the Old Bronze Age in the early 1900s, in the vicinity of Bostancı Village (formerly Yortan) near Akhisar, are important parts of the museum collection. In the Archeology Section, various terracotta pot forms, oil lamps, and figurines belonging to the period from the Bronze Age to the end of the Byzantine Period are exhibited in chronological order. The finds from the tumulus in the region are also special works.

Gold sheep and silver vessels found in Gökçeler tumulus are unique examples of Lydian culture. The Archaic Period Young Male relief belonging to a tumulus in Gökçeler Village is also a unique work. In the Archeology Section, glass vessels made by blowing technique, silver ceremonial chalices, metal artifacts, jewelry, osthoteks, and steles belonging to the Roman and Byzantine periods are also exhibited. In addition to the coins dating from the Archaic Period to the Late Ottoman Period, the Ancient Thyateira coins under today's Akhisar settlement also have an important place in the museum. In the Ethnography Section, there are seals from the Late Ottoman, and Early Republican periods, which were donated by the Akhisar Municipality, coffee culture, Turkish bath culture, handicrafts, local women's and men's clothing, jewelry, various pot samples as well as carpet weaving. The old bazaar reflecting the history, culture, economy, and social life of Akhisar in Arasta has been revived. Tobacco farming, which was an important source of income in the 19th and 20th centuries, was exhibited with bale press boxes, tobacco stringing needles, anchors, and spraying tools. Occupations such as tinsmithing, which is one of our traditional handicrafts, making felt, which is on the verge of being forgotten, horse-drawn carriage and phaeton making, saddlery and saddle making, which are still produced in the style specific to Akhisar and are sold domestically and abroad today, have been introduced separately.