Muş Museum: Urartu to Malazgirt in a 1930s School

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1. What is Muş Museum?
2. How do you get to Muş Museum?
3. When is the best time to visit Muş Museum?
4. What is the history of Muş Museum?
5. What is Muş Museum famous for?
6. What can you see at Muş Museum?
7. Frequently asked questions about Muş Museum
8. What do the official records say about Muş Museum?

What is Muş Museum?

Muş Museum (Muş Müzesi) is the provincial museum of Muş, opened in 2021 in the former Atatürk Primary School in the city centre. Its collection runs from the Chalcolithic period to the Ottomans, with Urartian objects, Roman and Byzantine finds, Ottoman jewellery and weapons, and a hall devoted to Sultan Alp Arslan and the Battle of Malazgirt (Turkish Museums).

The best-known Urartian objects from the province, from Kayalıdere, are in Ankara, so this museum shows the wider picture rather than the famous pieces. The museum is now the best single introduction to the province’s past and the natural first stop before heading out to Malazgirt.

How do you get to Muş Museum?

The museum is on Atatürk Bulvarı in the Kültür neighbourhood, opposite the municipality building, and is easy to reach on foot from the centre of Muş. Muş Sultan Alparslan Airport is about 18 km away, and the town has direct coaches from Bitlis, Tatvan, Van, Erzurum, Diyarbakır and Bingöl.

Check opening days and hours on the Ministry’s museum website before you go. Admission was listed as free at the time of writing.

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When is the best time to visit Muş Museum?

Any time of year, since it is indoors. The museum is a good choice on a winter day, when snow limits access to outlying sites. In late August, around the Malazgirt commemoration, it is busier than usual.

What is the history of Muş Museum?

The museum occupies the Atatürk Primary School, built in 1937–38 in the early Republican period, and converted for its new use before opening in 2021. In the same year a second unit, the Malazgirt Museum, opened in Malazgirt with a diorama of the 1071 battle (Turkish Museums).

The collection reflects the many periods the 2002 inventory describes for the province: Urartian fortresses and mounds such as Kayalıdere, Kepenek and Bostankale; Roman and Byzantine settlement on the plain; and the Seljuk and Ottoman town with its mosques, madrasas and hans.

What is Muş Museum famous for?

• Sultan Alparslan and Malazgirt hall, with illustrations of the battle and information on the sultan.
• Archaeological finds from the Urartian period and later, including terracotta figurines and votive plaques.
• Ottoman jewellery and arms in the ethnographic hall.
• The building itself, an early Republican school.

What can you see at Muş Museum?

Archaeological halls. Arranged by period: Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, the Urartian Middle Iron Age, and the Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Highlights listed by the Ministry include terracotta figurines, votive plaques, tombstones and a stone endowment inscription.

Ethnographic hall. Ottoman-period jewellery, belts and buckles, bracelets and headpieces, healing bowls, candlesticks, samovars, coffee grinders, swords, daggers, powder flasks and pistols.

Sultan Alparslan and Battle of Malazgirt hall. Illustrations and information panels on the 1071 battle. The Ministry notes that finds from recent survey and excavation work on the battlefield are planned for display here.

Children’s education area. A space for school groups and families.

Around the museum. The old centre of Muş is a short walk away. The Ulu Cami, built by Sheikh Muhammed-i Mağribi, who is buried in its courtyard, is dated to the second half of the 14th century; its main hall has a central dome flanked by barrel vaults. The Alaaddin Bey Mosque of the early 18th century has a minaret in two colours of cut stone, and the hamam beside it is still in use. Muş Castle, on the height above the centre, is now a municipal park, with old Arab, Seljuk and Ottoman cemeteries scattered to its west.

Frequently asked questions about Muş Museum

What do the official records say about Muş Museum?

The Alaaddin Bey Hamamı, in the centre of Muş, was built by Alaaddin Bey at the same time as the Alaaddin Bey Mosque. The hamam, still in use today, is one of the works of the late Ottoman period.

In building material and architectural features it is similar to the Alaaddin Bey Mosque, and plant motifs were used in its interior decoration. Another interesting feature of the hamam is the tortoise totem carved in relief on the stone just above the door at the entrance to the large hall. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Muş Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)