MUSEUM      

The Canakkale Museum

Founded 1936 in an old church and the building was later reconstructed in 1960.
The museum later moved to the new building on Ataturk Caddesi in 1984.
In the garden of the museum there are reliefs , headstones and tablets.
In the museum , several archaeological works which where excavated from Troya , Bozcaada , Gokceada ,Assos , Alexandreia Troas , Gulpınar , Dardanos , Yenice , Can and Gumuscay are being exhibited.

The collections on display are rich in terms of coins and glassware.
The sarcophagi of a girl is an important piece that depicts Greeks returning home and sacrificing the their captive , a young girl nemed Polyksena. Anther masterpiece on display is the small statuette of Aphrodite that was made of baked clay and found at the Dardanos tumulus.

The Military Museum and the Cimenlik Fortress

Cimenlik Fortress , organized as Military Museum , was constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1462 to control the Dardanelles Strait. In the museum there are displays of Ottoman era arms and military equipment , material and equipment from World War One as well as copies of books and maps prepared by the famed Ottoman sailor and cartographer Piri Reis.

An exact scale replica of the minelayer the Nusrat , which played a prominent part in the Gallipoli Campaign , is on display in the open garden of museum . the real Nusrat , which has recently been restored , is on display in a park in Mersin in the south of Turkey.

The Dardanos Tumulus

The Tumulus is on the Izmir road in an area qwned by the local university and the finds from the site are on display at the Canakkale Archaeology Museum. The site’s importance lies in its having the traces of the oldest settlement known in Canakkale.

Neandria/Ezine

The ancident city of Neandria is very close to the Ezine city centre. The Aiolya Temple on the foothills of Cigri Mountain was in Neandreia. The city surrendered to the Spartan commander Derkilidas in 33 B.C. in 400 B.C. In 400 B.C. ,the city formed a union with Alexandria Troias. The city was completely surrounded by walls and its acropolis is about 500 metres above the level of the sea.

Gelibolu

The fortress ruin right near to the fisherman’s port is a private museum. This small museum is named after Piri Reis , the Ottoman naval officer who drew the first map in the world , and has a small collection on display. Having been set up with an amateur spirit and being inside the fortress makes for a cute museum. The fortress dates from the ancident times but underwent many restorations over the centuries. The grave of Piri Reis is also in Gelibolu.

Eceabat

When you look at the town from the sea , the Ottomans fortresses along the shore of the Strait , erected to maintain control of the Dardanelles , provide an impressive view.

BIGALI CASTLE : The fortress in five kilometers to the north of Eceabat up the peninsula. Work on the fortification, which was no a real castle but a artillery emplacement and associated buildings,began in 1807, with the stones of Sestos quarried to provide contruction material.

KILITBAHIR CASTLE : This castle, whose name means Lock of the Sea and is a masterpiece of Ottoman fortress construction, was built by Fatih Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1452. sultan Suleyman the Magnificant later added a gate tower and strengthened and extended the walls. A unique design, with the three inner courtyards of the castle being in a clover leaf shape, the central keep was well protected by high outer walls.

SEDDUL BAHIR CASTLE : Built in 1659 during the reign of Sultan Mehmet (4) at the toe of the peninsula to protect the outer mouth of the Dardanelles, the castle was designed by the architect Mimar Mustafa Aga, who was responsible for many fine works in Istanbul.

Alexandreia troas

The candidate to be the capital of the Roman Empire:
The first research on the site started in 1786. from the surface study the borders of the city was mapped out.

 The first excavation work started in 1996. The city was founded around the end of the fourth century B.C. by one of the commanders of Alexander the Great, Antigonos Monoftalmos, who gave the settlement the name Antigoneia. According to the geographer Strabo, at the beginning of the third century B.C. a short time after its foundation, the city was renamed Alexandreia Troas in the name of the Thracian King Lysmakhos Alexander and construction work began.

In this period the residents from the neighbouring seven cities were moved to Alexandreia Troas. The city stretched from present day Gulpınar to Troy and to the east as far as Evciler. It was one of  the largest Hellenistic cities established in Anatolia. In written records of the Romans it was stated that Emperor Julius Caesar had visited the city and considered making it the capital at the Roman Empire. In some sources it is written that Emperor Costantine considered building the Costantinopolus (Istanbul) on the site as his capital.

When the excavation, restoration and other works are completed on the site Alexandreia Troas, one of the largest cities Anatolia, will attract even more visitors. Even now, what can be seen at the moment on the site will give you an idea  of how great the city once was.

Apollo Smintheion/Gulpınar

The first excavations on the site started in 1866. after a short period of digging the site was left for a long time. In 1971-73 the digging resumed but the temple was again forgotten until 1980.

The sacred area of Simintheion was one of the important worship centres of Troas.
It is believed that the location of the temple was in an area rich in water, just as it is today.
This was due to the fact that Apollo needed water to make on oracle.

Hellenistic era coins of Alexandria Troas, which are referred to in written sources, depict the god Apollo on one side in front of the temple while the other has an imprint of a statue of the “mouse-smintheus”, though this statue is yet to be found.

As a part of the excavations in the sarced area a unique Roman bridge was revealed on the Tuzla Streamlet on the nearby Gulpinar-Tuzla plain.

The bridge linked Alexandreia Troas and the sarced area.

Babakale

By issuing a ferman (Sultan’s decree) Sultan Ahmet III had announced that prisoners from the four corners of the country would be freed if they agreed to work in Bababurnu.
The prisoners, by working flat out, finished the castle. For the public fountain they had to carry water from five kilometers awat by pipelines.

USEFUL ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

City Directorate of Culture and Tourism
Kayserili Ahmet Pasa Cad.
Phone : (+90286) 2175012-2172317
Fax : (+90286) 2124522
E-mail : ckale_kultur-turizm@hotmail.com

Tourism Information Office
Iskele Meydani No : 67
Phone&Fax : (+90286) 2171187

Canakkale Archaelogy Museum
Barbaros Mah. 100. Yil Cad.
Phone : (+90286) 2176565-2176740
Fax : (+90286) 2171105

Kabatepe Museum
Phone : (+90286) 8141297

Military Museum
Phone : (+90286) 2131730

National Park Administration
Phone : (+90286) 8141128

Troy Ruins
Tevfikiye Koyu
Phone : (+90286) 2830536

State Fine Arts Gallery
Kayserili Ahmet Pasa Cad.
Phone : (+90286) 2176161

City Security Directorate
Phone : (+90286) 2175260