Those who had participated in foreign trips before, while talking about the abundance of museums there, lamented that there were few in our country. Of course, the museums they mentioned were sometimes large museums such as the Louvre or the Hermitage, but small specialized museums such as the literature museum, the aircraft museum, the radio museum, or the memorial museums opened in the name of important writers and statesmen.

Adana has recently become very rich in terms of specialization and memorial museums. New museums were opened, which could be called the city of museums. You can spend at least one weekend visiting these museums.

For this, we recommend that you start your tour around Taşköprü. If you walk up to the Atatürk Statue holding the book "Speech" in Zübeyde Hanım Park on the north side of Taşköprü, you can notice two important museum buildings just across the road. If you want, let's visit these two museums together.

Ataturk Science and Culture Museum

Before the Republic, Adana's wealthy families lived in mansions along the eastern bank of the Seyhan River. That's why a row of historical mansions next to the Atatürk Museum are still called "Sıra Konaklar". In the Suphi Pasha Mansion, which is located in these mansions, this house where the founder of the Turkish Republic Atatürk stayed during his two visits has been turned into a museum where Atatürk's Adana Travels photographs and ethnographic materials are exhibited. In the museum, the struggle of Adana and its surroundings during the War of Independence is explained, on the other hand, information is given about the life of Adana in the 19th century. There is also an area in the courtyard where you can take a tea break and breathe.

Address: Kayalıbağ Mah. Seyhan Cad. No:59 Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 359 78 66

Winter Period: 08.30 – 16.30

Summer Period: 08.30 – 18.30

Closed on Mondays, free

Adana Cinema Museum

Adana and cinema are the subjects of this museum, which is located right next to the Atatürk House and serves in another of Sıra Konaklar. You will understand the impact of the city on Turkish Cinema, especially during the Yeşilçam period, when you visit this museum. The main theme of the museum is Adana's contribution to the art of cinema and its filmmakers. Wax sculptures of Abidin Dino, Orhan Kemal and Muzaffer İzgü, and special belongings of film artists, are featured in the museum where many Adana filmmakers, especially Yılmaz Güney, Abidin Dino, Yaşar Kemal, Orhan Kemal, Şahin Kaygun, Muzaffer İzgü, Şener Şen and Ali Özgentürk, are narrated. Documents of films and films are kept and exhibited in this museum. In addition, a library containing 3000 (historical and current) books on photography and cinema, which have been published since 1895, has been put at the disposal of researchers.

Mehmet Baltaci Photography Museum

A large number of historical cameras, the oldest of which belongs to 1890, are exhibited in the Mehmet Baltacı Photography Museum, which is located within the Adana Cinema Museum. İzzet Keribar, S. Haluk Uygur, Sadık Demiröz, Sami Güner; There are special sections where the cameras used by masters such as Reha Bilir and their photographs are exhibited. For researchers, around ten thousand photographs of Adana, mostly historical, are in the museum archive.

Address: Kayalıbağ Street, 01010 Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 454 38 57

Weekdays: 08.00 – 17.00

Saturday: 09.00-17.00

Sunday: 10.00 - 17.00 Free

Karacaoğlan Museum Library

Again in the same region, in the historical Dentist Ethem Mansion, next to the former military office, in this museum library, the paintings designed by the Adana painter Etem Çalışkan inspired by the poems of Karacaoğlan are exhibited. Typewriters used by the philanthropists and personal belongings of writers are exhibited.

Address: Mestanzade Mah. Debboy Cad. No: 2, 01020 Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 352 29 44

Weekdays: 10.00 – 19.00

Saturday: 10.00 – 19.00

Closed on Sundays, Free

Adana Kuruköprü Memorial Museum and Traditional Adana House

The building, which was used as the Adana Greek Church, was later used as the Ethnography Museum and was named the Memorial Museum. Nowadays, photographs describing Adana and its surroundings are exhibited in this area. On the upper floor of the two-storey building, located in the same garden as the Memorial Museum, the Bride's Room and the Head Room, where the traditional life of Adana is told, the kitchen that describes the rich food culture, and the rooms where weaving, which has not lost its importance today, are enriched with wax sculptures. There is a museum restaurant serving Adana dishes at the entrance; We recommend you to eat ring soup and kibbeh.

Address: Kuruköprü Street Ziyapaşa Cad. No: 7 Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 363 37 17

Winter Period: 08.30 – 17.30

Summer Period: 08.30 – 19.00

Open daily, Free

Sheikh Cemil Nardali Mansion

The mansion, which was built by Sheikh Cemil Nardalı, who made a great contribution to the victory of the War of Independence, was restored and transformed into a culture house where ethnographic materials describing the Adana culture are exhibited. We recommend that you see the 245-year-old Gum Tree in its garden and drink your tea in its shade.

Address: Akkapı Mah. 12122 st. Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 361 61 08

Weekdays: 08.00 – 18.00

Free

Şakir Pasha Mansion

It is known that when Atatürk came to Adana during the years of the National Struggle, they talked about the occupied places and struggles with a delegation of Adana notables in this mansion. While the building hosts its visitors with an exhibition describing the daily life of the period, it hosts various trainings for young people, especially drama.

Address: D-400 Highway, Opposite Sıdıka Sabancı Secondary School, Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 435 05 01

Weekdays: 08.00 – 18.00

Free

Yeşiloba Martyrdom and National Struggle Museum

In this place, there is the farm building where some Armenian gangsters, who acted together with those who occupied Adana during the War of Independence, burned to death around 100 Turks. It is a museum that you will find interesting as the event is depicted by around 100 small statues. The museum is at the Adana-Mersin exit, 300 meters east of the hippodrome.

Address: Yesiloba Mah. 46193 st. Yesiloba Martyrdom Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 429 76 96

Weekdays: 08:00-18:00

Free

Adana Archeology Museum

The historical National Textile Factory will soon be transformed into a museum complex that will gather six different museums under its roof. The first of these, the Adana Archeology Museum, was put into service in 2017 and has more than 50 thousand objects. Other museums to be opened within the museum complex will be the City Museum, Agricultural Museum, Industry Museum, Ethnography Museum, Children's Museum and Mosaic Museum. The famous writer Orhan Kemal worked as a civil servant in the National Textile Factory, which was used from 1907 to the beginning of this century, and inspired the novel Bekçi Murtaza.

In the Archeology museum, which has one of the most important coin collections in the world, Anatolian Hieroglyphic Inscription Stele, Babylonian Stele, Medusa Sarcophagus, Seljuk tiles and seals of various civilizations are among the works worth seeing. Some influential expressions, such as the clothes of the Roman and Ottoman periods, were made with wax sculptures. In addition, there is a special area reserved for mosaics in the museum, and the “Orpheus Playing the Lyre Mosaic” is the most popular of these mosaics.

In the art workshop reserved for children, many artistic activities such as marbling, mosaic and glass blowing are carried out. You can feel the historical texture in the large garden of the museum, take a breather in the cafeteria and drink tea and coffee. You can find miniature copies of artifacts, imitations of jewelry from historical civilizations and souvenirs from Adana in the sales store.

Artifacts to be Seen Before Leaving the Museum;

Mountain Crystal Sculpture; It belongs to the Late Hittite Period, it was made with the chipping technique.

Achilles Sarcophagus; The “Achilleus Sarcophagus” unearthed in Tarsus excavations, depicting the Trojan wars in high relief, belongs to the Roman period.

Anthropoid Sarcophagus; According to the ancient Egyptian belief, the body and face depiction of the deceased was engraved on the sarcophagus outside the mummy, thus it was believed that the person became immortal. This work belongs to the Roman period.

Roman Senator Statue; It is thought that the human-sized bronze Karataş Statue, unearthed from the Magarsus Ancient City in Adana's Karataş district, may belong to a poet, politician or nobleman; The people call the statue "Roman Senator".

Tarhunda Statue; The relief on the 3,000-year-old giant Hittite God Tarhunda Statue reads "I am the God of Adana". This inscription shows that the name of the city has remained unchanged for at least 3000 years.

Stone Bridge Inscription; In an oval wreath in the middle of the inscription, a daisy flower was embroidered with the monogram of the Ottoman Sultan Sultan Abdulmecid and its branches. In the inscription, it is written that Sultan Abdülmecid had the bridge repaired in order to strengthen it.

Museum Card; The Museum Card, which gives 1 year entrance right to more than 300 museums and ruins, can be purchased for 70 TL at many big museum counters. Single entry is 12 TL.

Address: Döşeme Street Ahmet Cevdet Yag Bulvarı No:7, 01060 Seyhan

Phone: (0322) 454 38 57

Winter Period: 08.30 – 17.00

Summer Period: 09.00 – 19.00

Closed on Mondays

If you have reserved a weekend for small museums in Adana, you should also see Abidin Dino Art Park, even if there is no museum. Because this park was frequented by many important artists such as Abidin Dino, Arif Dino, Yaşar Kemal, Orhan Kemal, Ali Özgentürk, Mustafa Sağyaşar and Yılmaz Güney. When you visit, you will be able to see the bronze sculptures of Abidin Dino, Yaşar Kemal and Orhan Kemal, an exhibition of Abidin Dino and sections from his life in Adana. The park is located on Atatürk Street, right next to the Metropolitan Municipality Building.

Address: Reşatbey, Atatürk Cd. No:14/D, 01120 Seyhan/Adana

open 24 hours

*Adana Destination is taken from S. Haluk Uygur's book "52 Weeks Adana and Its Surroundings".

Ataturk House Photograph: S. Haluk Uygur

Adana Cinema Museum, Baltacı Photography Museum, Karacaoğlan Literature Museum, Yeşiolba Martyrdom and National Struggle Museum, Adana Archeology Museum and Adana Kuruköprü Memorial Museum and Traditional Adana House photographs; Mehmet Emin Arici