Kenan Yavuz Museum of Ethnography

Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum is an ethnography museum located in the village of Beşpınar, formerly known as "Loru", in the district of Demirözü, Bayburt.

It is situated near the Demirözü Dam lake in the Demirözü valley, 40 kilometers from Bayburt. The museum, built on an area of 8,000 square meters, has been constructed in an integrated manner with all structures that have a connection to time and space, as well as the region's architectural fabric. The stone and wood used come from the ruined houses and mountains of surrounding villages.

Kenan Yavuz Ethnography Museum is an institution that aims to draw attention to the architectural destruction caused by modernization and migration processes in villages. The museum has adopted the mission of preserving local beauties that are on the brink of being forgotten, conveying cultural heritage to new generations through vivid visuals, and focusing on the human element. In order to keep traditional local culture alive, activities such as children's games, fairy tales, introduction of endemic plants, oral tradition, wedding and henna customs, as well as various events organized collectively are held. Among the events carried out in the summer of 2020 were festivals of grass cutting with sickles, tandoor, threshing, spindle turning, and bulgur making. It is planned that these activities will be expanded and continued in future years. The museum exhibits belongings of real people and lived stories, and increased visitor interest has led to observed sensitivity and curiosity of the local population toward their own culture.

Establishment

The founder of the museum, as can be understood from his name, is the businessman Kenan Yavuz, who once served as CEO of companies in Turkey. It was established in 2013 by entrepreneur Kenan Yavuz as a cultural house and attained official private museum status in 2019. The museum was awarded the Silletto Award by the European Museum Forum in 2021.

Museum Spaces

Village house, the house where museum founder Kenan Yavuz was born and raised.

Shack, a structure representing a way of life squeezed between village and city life. It is a space that holds a place in the life of Serpil Hanım, the wife of the museum’s founder Kenan Bey.

Mansion, symbolizes modern life and is the space where objects from the family’s past are exhibited.

Open exhibition areas; the area where the permanent China for exhibition opened within the framework of the 25th International Dede Korkut Culture and Arts Festivals is located. The exhibition includes 210 special tiles produced by the İznik Foundation. In the door‑hammer exhibition, which features 20 wooden doors and their hammers brought from different parts of Anatolia, poems by Kenan Yavuz are found on the marble pieces beside the doors.

Closed exhibition areas; spaces where works representing traditional Anatolian life are displayed.

Loru Han; a boutique museum hotel built with stones collected from houses destroyed in the villages of the region. It was constructed with a courtyard inn architecture.

Beziryağı mill; exhibits the production of bezir oil made from flax plant.

Water mill

Amphitheater and open‑air cinema

Dede Korkut and Turkish Identity Library; contains books by poets and writers of Bayburt literature and mysticism as well as classics of Turkish identity such as ideas, research, novels and children’s tales.

Agricultural tools open exhibition area

Agricultural tools closed exhibition area

Tandırlık

Village square, a space created to keep alive the memories of small tradespeople in Bayburt together with their belongings.

Prayer room

Viewing terrace, located on the roof of the village house; revives old weddings and the oral bar tradition.

Traditional children’s games area

Wooden swing

Bayburt pigeon house

Aşhan