The story of Amasra Museum

The building that houses Amasra Museum was begun in 1884 as a naval school, yet it stood unfinished until the Ministry of Culture acquired it in 1975 and completed it in 1976. The collection itself started more modestly: in 1955 finds stored in a small hall of the municipality building went on show, in 1969 they moved to a former primary school, and on 30 January 1982 they arrived here. Today more than 50,000 visitors a year walk through its four halls.

Look for teardrop and perfume bottles, gold and bronze grave jewellery, amphoras raised from the sea, and coins of gold, silver and bronze. Marble statues and reliefs span Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Genoese times, including the armoured torso of Emperor Hadrian.

The ethnography halls show late Ottoman copperware, local silver jewellery and carved wooden pots typical of Amasra.