Adana Ethnography Museum

Adana Museum has the title of being one of the ten oldest museums in Turkey. It was founded in 1924, right after the declaration of the Republic. The museum first started by collecting the surrounding column capitals and sarcophagi in the Police Department. Later, as a result of the appointment of Halil Kamil Bey as the director and his successful work, it was opened to visitors in 1928 in the Madrasa of the now demolished Cafer Pasha Mosque. However, in 1950, it was moved to the Kuruköprü Memorial Museum, which was used as the Ethnography Museum.

Entrance

Adana Museum was founded in 1924, right after the proclamation of the Republic, and is one of the ten oldest museums in Turkey. The museum, which was first established by collecting the surrounding column capitals and sarcophagi in the Police Department, was opened to visitors in 1928 in the Madrasa of the Cafer Pasha Mosque, which is now demolished, at the beginning of Taşköprü, as a result of the appointment of Halil Kamil Bey as the director and his successful work. In 1950, it was moved to the Kuruköprü Memorial Museum, which was located in Kuruköprü and was used as the Ethnography Museum for a while.

A new museum building was needed because the protection, storage and display of cultural assets of the museum building, which was opened to visitors on January 5, 1972 and served for many years, became insufficient. As a result of the studies carried out on the new museum area, it was found appropriate to restore the "National Textile Factory", one of the first factories of the city, located in the Döşeme District of Seyhan District of Adana Province, and use it as the Adana New Museum Complex. Within the scope of the Adana New Museum Complex Phase I works, the construction of which started within the investment programs of our Ministry in 2013, the exhibition and arrangement works of the Archeology Museum were completed and it was opened to visitors on May 18, 2017.

Adana Archeology Museum, which was completed and opened to visitors, has eight halls where the life adventure of man from the prehistoric period to the present is explained with the help of informational texts, visuals, dioramas and animations from the periods. In the halls, Prehistoric period works, stone works such as statues, sarcophagi, stelae, altars and busts from the Hittite, Assyrian, Archaic, Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods, various vessels made of glass, terracotta and bronze, terracotta and bronze. There are lamps and figurines, cylinder-stamp seals, glass, bronze and gold jewelry and other archaeological finds. Among the exhibited works, the stone statue of the Hittite Storm God Tarhunda, the Stele with Anatolian Hieroglyphic Inscription, the Babylonian Stele, the bronze Male Statue unearthed from the sea in Karataş District of Adana Province, and the marble "Anthropoid Sarcophagus" and "Achilles Sarcophagus" from the Roman period attract attention. 

In our city, Seyhan District, Döşeme District and around the old station, the "National Textiles Factory", which was founded by Aristidi Kozma Simyonoğlu in 1906 and is one of the oldest industrial institutions of Adana, has started to be converted into a Museum Complex within the scope of the 2013 investment programs of our Ministry, and when completed, it will be a great attraction for Turkey and the Middle East. It will have the title of being the largest museum complex in the East.

The factory, which was opened by Aristidi Kozma in 1907 under the name "Simyanoğlu Factory", changed hands in 1924 and was named "National Factory". Following Atatürk's instructions to revitalize the abandoned factories in Adana, businessmen of the time, Mustafa Özgür, Nuri Has and Seyit Tekin, bought the factory from the treasury in 1927 and changed its name to "National Mensucat". During this period, the "Aslan" brand vater and extra threads produced in the factory were in great demand throughout the country. In 1944, Hacı Ömer Sabancı became one of the partners of the factory. The factory, which was transferred back to the treasury and production was suspended due to accumulated debts in 1978, was reopened in 1983 and its name was changed to "Milsan Mensucat".

During the National Textiles Factory period, it was one of the first organizations in Turkey that provided wide opportunities to its employees outside of public institutions. While it was an organization where employees were given one hot meal a day and lodgings were created for families and singles to stay, all kinds of diseases of the workers were treated with an infirmary within the factory and a hospital with fifty beds next to the factory, and free treatments, including surgical interventions, were provided.

The factory, which was a school for Adana industry, also became a source of inspiration for Turkish Literature. "Watchman" is one of the important literary works of the writer Orhan KEMAL, whose 100th birthday was celebrated with a series of events in 2013.