The story of Baksı Museum

The old name of a village became the name of a museum: "baksı", the former name of Bayraktar village, meant scholar, healer or shaman to the early Turks. This art museum, 45 km from Bayburt, is the work of Bayburt-born artist and academic Professor Hüsamettin Koçan.

The idea took shape in 2000, grew with the Baksı Culture and Art Foundation in 2005, and the main building was completed in 2010 without any financial help from the state. The museum was presented at Istanbul Modern in June 2010 and opened to the public that July; in 2012 its new exhibition hall, the Warehouse Museum, followed.

Here contemporary art and traditional handcrafts share the same space, so look in on the ehram and rug workshop. In 2014 the museum received the Council of Europe Museum Prize at the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, and the prize's symbol, Joan Miró's bronze figurine Woman with Beautiful Breasts, was displayed here for 1 year.