Tunceli museum opened its doors to visitors in 2020 and sheds light on the city’s thousands of years of history. Designed by German architects in Dersim city center in 1935 and used as a military barracks for a lengthy period, authorities began restoring it as a museum in 2015.
The museum consists of four blocks and contains some of the oldest historical findings of the city, including pottery and stone tools, as well as works made of various metals and an exhibition hall representing information panels and rituals about Alevism.
Alevism is a branch of Islam and Alevis are the largest religious minority in Turkey where they are consistently denied the right to their religious education, the right to build places of worship, and are marginalized in the government and public spheres.
“Although it is one of the newest museums, it accepts almost as many visitors as the city’s population every year, even though our city is not a very crowded city,” Governor Bulent Tekbiyikoglu said.
“Tunceli Museum also has a difference in terms of exhibitions. There is an exhibition area here regarding our preserved Khorasan belief, the Alevism belief. It is also remarkable in this respect. Of course, this is also noticed by organizations in Europe,” he added, hoping that the museum will receive more international attention as a result of its second-place scoring.
Citizens from Dersim and all over Turkey expressed pride about the museum’s remarkable success.
“This is my first time coming to Dersim, and my first time coming to the museum. Looking from the outside, I didn't actually have very high expectations, but when I visited, there are very extensive, very detailed explanations, articles, video explanations, and very beautiful works. "I think it should be promoted better, it is a very valuable place," Helin Tunca, a resident, told Rudaw’s Ali Haydar Gozlu.
