Tokat Museum

HISTORY AND EXHIBITION ORDER OF TOKAT MUSEUM

Museum activities in Tokat first started in 1926, when retired teacher Halis Turgut CİNLİOĞLU gave start to store historical artifacts in Gökmedrese; an Anatolian Seljuk madrasa built in the 13th century. Tokat Museum, which is a group of mixed museums in which archaeological and ethnographic artifacts and coins are being exhibited, was moved from Gökmedrese, where it had been serving since 1926, to the Tokat Bedesten in Sulusokak in 2012. The Museum, whose exhibition and arrangement works are carried out in the Bedesten building with the understanding of contemporary museology, was officially opened to visitors on 18 September 2012. Because of its architectural features it is thought that the building, which does not have an inscription giving the date of construction, may have been built in the 15th century during the reign of Sultan Mehmed I. With the covered bazaar section in the middle and the units between the east and west fronts the Bedesten building consists of a total of three parts. The bedesten section is divided into nine units with four pairs of piers, and its unit is covered with a dome. The covered bazaar, which is entered through the doors on the north and south facades, has a further door opening between the east and west. Twenty shops facing each other are in the Arasta section, which is kept lower than the bedesten walls. The Tokat Bedesten, built with rubble stone and brick material, is completely in brick structure on the arches and on the top cover.

The Tokat Museum Department consists of the objects obtained from the excavations and the acquisition by donation, purchase or confiscation of the artifacts found in the provinces, districts and villages.

Bedesten section of Tokat Bedesten, also known as Arastalı Bedesten, was arranged as an archeology hall. Artifacts belonging to many civilizations that lived in the city of Tokat, whose history dates back to 4000 BC, are exhibited in the archeology hall. Among the important artifacts exhibited in the archeology hall are the Hittite tablets from the Maşathöyük excavation, the sword from the Hellenistic Period and the bronze sculpture group consisting of the sacred animals of Apollo, Poseidon, Nike and the gods from the Roman Period.

The coin section of the Museum is located in the archeology hall. Our museum has an important place among Anatolian museums in terms of the number and variety of coins it has. It has a very wide collection in terms of diversity, consisting of coins belonging to all civilizations that ruled in Tokat, starting with the electron group coins, which are the first coins minted in history, until the end of the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the coin collection consists of Anatolian Seljuk silver coins and Ottoman-Venetian gold coins.

The western part of the covered bazaar was arranged as an ethnography hall. Our Museum has a rich collection that defines the Ethnography of Tokat in terms of tools and equipment representing the lifestyle and culture of the people, and ethnographic artifacts that have the value of information and documents related to science and religion, which need to be preserved. Among the important works on display in the ethnography hall are the manuscript of the Koran dated back to 587 (Hegira Calendar) (M.1191), which is the oldest known Koran from the Anatolian Seljuk period, among the Anatolian museums and libraries. There are ceramics produced in Tokat, which is stated to be the fourth important production center after Iznik, Kütahya and Çanakkale in Anatolian Turkish Ceramics. In addition, a reenactment area for a traditional hand-printed writing workshop with a history of 600 years in Tokat has also been created in the ethnography hall.

In a room facing the street, to the south of the western arasta, there is a reenactment of a coppersmith's workshop in which Tokat copperwork, an important copper processing center in the Ottoman Period is animated. A part of the eastern arasta is used as a warehouse and a part as an administrative part. Stone artifacts and large-sized food jars are exhibited in the front garden. On one side of the garden, grave steles, sarcophagi and column capitals belonging to the Roman Period are exhibited, while on the other side, sarcophagi, grave head and foot stones belonging to the Seljuk and Ottoman periods are exhibited.