History is a tricky storyteller, facts get muddied, urban legends rise from thin air and documents may become lost in archives waiting for a spotlight for ages as has been the case with Troy Museum in Turkey's Çanakkale. Its year of establishment has now been revealed to be 1911, instead of 1936 as believed for a long time, after research on the museum's history found documents related to its foundation.
The study on the history of the Çanakkale Museum, which was renamed the Troy Museum three years ago, started in the state archives in September last year and has now been completed.
The Çanakkale Museum was known to have been established in 1936 in the Armenian church in the Zafer Square in the Fevzipaşa District. Within the scope of the study, the information about the beginning of the museum's service was examined.
In the examinations made in the state archives, it was determined that the Çanakkale Museum was founded in 1911 in Çanakkale High School.
In the research, documents regarding the first director, janitor and collection development of the museum were also found.
Rıdvan Gölcük, Director of the Troy Museum, which stands at the entrance of the Ancient City of Troy located within the boundaries of the Tevfikiye village, told reporters that they shared 111-year-old documents with the public for the first time.
Gölcük, who also took part in the study, stated that they were trying to better understand their foundation's background.
"In many publications, the establishment date of the Çanakkale Museum was referred to as 1936. However, there were also publications stating that it was founded in 1932 and 1930. Therefore, we saw that there was no consensus on the establishment history," Gölcük told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"Although the dates say different things, all documents indicate that Çanakkale Museum was founded at the Armenian church located in Zafer Square. We conducted most of our work in the state archives. We came across a very important document regarding the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum in the state archives," he said.
Gölcük stated that the document found belonged to the year 1911. He said that in the document, the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum Branch was mentioned.
"In fact, within the first document, approximately 10,000 kuruş (an Ottoman currency) was requested for the establishment of the Çanakkale Museum Branch. Then we saw that this budget was provided.
"Contrary to what is known, we have determined that the place used as the first museum building was not an Armenian church. The first museum building was Çanakkale High School, which is the Çanakkale Teacher's House today."
Gölcük stated that they also found other important data in the documents. He noted that in the document dated July 15, 1911, sent from the Müze-i Osmaniye (Ottoman Museum) Directorate to the Ministry of National Education, it was stated that a person named Hamza Agha was appointed as the museum janitor with a salary of 100 kuruş.
"Sermet Efendi, (the) Minister of Education at the time, became the first director of the Çanakkale Museum," Gölcük revealed.
Gölcük also touched upon the history of museums in the Ottoman Empire.
"Our first museum is today's Istanbul Archeology Museum, then Bursa and Sivas are opened. We see that the Çanakkale Museum is one of the earliest museology practices and museology initiatives made in the Ottoman lands.
"In Anatolia, after Bursa and Sivas, Çanakkale Museum stands out as the museum that was opened at the earliest dates. This document is not only important when it comes to museology in Çanakkale, but also showed us how far Turkish museology goes back and the need to remove the dust off of it, conduct studies on it."