Kastamonu Archaeology Museum

Kastamonu Archaeology Museum is the museum where archaeological artifacts collected from the surroundings of Kastamonu and Çankırı are exhibited.

It serves in the former İttihat ve Terakki Club building, located in the city center of Kastamonu and designed by architect Kemaleddin Bey. In addition to various artifacts from the Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, the museum displays items from the Candaroğulları Beylik and the Ottoman period.

The museum building is the place where the Founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, read his famous Kastamonu speech during his 1925 visit to Kastamonu. In one section of the museum, various objects and tools used by Atatürk during this trip are exhibited.

Museum building

Kastamonu Archaeology Museum is located in the historic building constructed in 1914-1917 as the İttihat ve Terakki Society building. Its plan was drawn by architect Kemaleddin Bey. During the War of Independence the building was used by the Kastamonu Youth Organization, and in 1921 it served as the Independence Court.

After the war, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, during his 1925 visit to Kastamonu, arrived from İnebolu to the city center on 30 August 1925 and, after the speech in İnebolu, delivered his second speech on the Hat Revolution here.

The building was used as a Turkish Hearth and CHP party building until the 1940s. In 1945 it was purchased by the Ministry of National Education and converted into a museum.

History

Kastamonu Archaeology Museum was established as a museum depot in 1941-1943 by gathering artifacts excavated in the ancient Paphlagonia region. With the work of Ahmet Gökoğlu, a Kastamonu archaeologist appointed as the museum’s first director, the artifacts were catalogued and prepared for display. On 30 October 1950 the museum was formally opened to the public by Governor Nurettin Aynuksa. In 1952 it became a regional museum.

The museum underwent a new restoration in 1980 and, after the new arrangements, reopened to visitors on 23 August 1981. The museum, which entered another restoration in 1997, opened for service in 2005 with the exhibition hall and additional storage building added in 2002, a renovated heating system, showcase lighting, and landscaping.

Works

In the museum inventory there are sarcophagi, statues and grave steles, as well as glass, metal, fired clay, and stone objects found in Kastamonu and its surroundings. In the museum garden, architectural fragments from the Ancient Roman period, lion and bull statues, and Ottoman period tombstones are exhibited. As of 2025, the museum inventory contains 1,888 archaeological objects, 31,952 coins, and 6,046 ethnographic objects.

The room where Atatürk read his Kastamonu Speech in 1925 has been arranged as the museum's Atatürk section. Various items and tools used by Atatürk during his visit to Kastamonu are gathered here.

The main items displayed in the museum are as follows:

Taprammi Vessel: Dated to the Hittite period. In 1990, it was one of the Hittite metal vessels found during the preliminary works of a dam construction project at the Kınık Yamaç Settlement near the village of Kınık in the district of Devrekani. It features scenes of deer and boar hunting and a lion‑bull combat scene. The hieroglyphic inscription on it reads the name "Taprammi," an important Hittite palace official or merchant.

Cybele figure: A work depicting the mother goddess Cybele, belonging to the Ancient Roman civilization. It was acquired by the museum through purchase from a citizen in the Akkaya subdistrict; the exact findspot is unknown. Made of fired clay, the goddess is shown seated on a throne, leaning with her broken right arm on the lion's head that rests on the throne's armrest, and touching her own head with her right hand.

Roman period grave stele: It was donated to the museum in 1943. The designs on it were compared to Kastamonu garlic, so among the public it is known as the "garlic stele". At the top there are two children holding grape clusters and a wreath of fruit surrounding them, a Medusa head on the wreaths, and at the bottom acanthus leaves.

Hittite sword: A bronze sword from the Hittite period, 42 centimeters long, 6 centimeters wide. It was found in 1992 in the district of Pınarbaşı. One example is in the Çorum Museum and another in the Amasra Museum.