Trabzon Museum (Kostaki House)

The Trabzon Museum, which belongs to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and is located in Kostaki Mansion, one of the most valuable civil architectural structures of Trabzon from the Late Ottoman Period on Eski Zeytinlik Street, was reopened to visitors on 30.05.2025 after careful restoration work and display arrangement between 2018-2024. Built in the early 20th century by the Greek banker from Trabzon, Konstantin Theofilaktos, in accordance with the architectural fashion of the period, Kostaki Mansion itself is a masterpiece in terms of its architectural design, spatial layout and decorative features. It especially draws attention with the hand-drawn decorations found in most of the interior spaces of the building. In this respect, the first floor of the building, which can be reached by an impressive staircase, has been exhibited in a way that tells the story of life in Kostaki Mansion and its state during the period it was used. The first floor of the building, which can be reached from here by a wooden staircase, is presented to visitors with documents, photographs and video displays of the three separate visits of the Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to Trabzon and the figures of Trabzon who became synonymous with Trabzon during the Early Republican Period. The most striking display on this floor is a recreation of a photo taken in the garden of the Kostaki Mansion, where Atatürk, his wife Latife Hanım and the accompanying delegation were hosted during his first visit to Trabzon in 1924. Another striking aspect of this floor is that it is divided into displays that highlight the ethnography of Trabzon, such as coppersmithing, pottery and jewelry. Here, an attempt is made to establish a connection with the past of Trabzon by emphasizing the city's almost lost craftsmanship. The Archaeology Hall of the Kostaki Mansion, which can be reached from the garden, is designed to take visitors on a journey through time from prehistoric times to the end of the Ottoman period. The timeline that greets visitors at the first entrance presents the cultures that have lived in Trabzon and its immediate surroundings in chronological order. In this archaeology floor, where each arrangement is made based on archaeological artifacts that describe Trabzon, prehistoric, ancient Greek and Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman artifacts are exhibited in the rooms. The rooms designed for Trabzon in ancient times, daily life in Trabzon and ancient maritime, stand out with their animations. One of the newest elements of this museum is the interactive fun and learning room prepared for children. On the archaeology floor, great importance was also given to the display of new findings found during the Trabzon Castle excavations carried out by the Trabzon Museum in the city. Trabzon Museum, where a total of 720 artifacts are exhibited, is an important cultural center that carries the traces of the city's past to the future.