The Bağ Mansion, which is a large vineyard mansion located in the central district of Bağlar in southern Diyarbakır province, will be converted into an ethnography museum as part of the "Ethnography Museum Project" of the Dicle University (DU). The restoration, conservation, exhibition and arrangement works have been initiated to transform the mansion, which was included in the campus of DU 27 years ago and has been serving as a guesthouse since 1995, into a museum.
A six-month schedule has been set for the completion of the works on the museum, which will consist of halls where Diyarbakır's history and culture will be exhibited thematically. The museum will also feature artifacts donated by professor Serap Sergül Inalöz Demir from the Department of Histology and Embryology of the DU Faculty of Medicine.
Professor Neslihan Dalkılıç, from the Department of Restoration of the Faculty of Architecture at DU, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they decided to turn the mansion into an ethnography museum so that it could be offered to the service of the people of Diyarbakır.
Referring to the architectural importance of the structure used as DU’s guest house for 25 years, Dalkılıç stated: “The mansion has a special meaning in terms of Diyarbakır’s architecture. We see three types of housing in this city. There are courtyard houses in the Sur district, vineyard mansions like the Bağ Mansion in the Bağlar district and Gazi and Erdebil Mansions around the Tigris River.”
Dalkılıç noted that structures like the Bağ Mansion are generally made of basalt and built in two-stories in a rectangular form, adding that they are invaluable because very few of them have survived.
Ottoman, Republican structures
Associate professor Aytaç Coşkun from the Department of Archaeology at DU said that organizers have been carrying out the exhibition and arrangement work in the Bağ Mansion.
Coşkun stated that five halls in the mansion will be used and small artifacts will be exhibited in these halls, adding: “In the museum, we will tell thematically about the previously unknown life of Diyarbakır people in Ottoman and early Republican periods. Students, local and foreign guests will be able to visit the museum. Also, students and faculty members of the department of archaeology, art history and history will be able to work on the artifacts here. We are creating a working space for them here.”
Providing information about the work to be done, Coşkun said: “In accordance with its original state and function, the structure will be given a harmonious new function with works describing the life in Diyarbakır in the past and its culture and everyday life. As part of the simple repair, we will intervene in the structure. Surface cleaning, stone cleaning and joint filler renewal will be carried out, and wooden floors and wooden ceilings in the interior will be strengthened.”
Coşkun stated that silver, handcrafted products, wooden and glass artifacts with mother-of-pearl inlays will create an important collection at the museum, saying: “The people of Diyarbakır will see some of the works for the first time. Indeed, artifacts that have not been known or exhibited anywhere previously will be opened to visitors for the first time here.”
