Kırklareli Museum
Kırklareli Museum is a museum located in Kırklareli, Turkey. The museum was established in 1993 and exhibits natural history examples, ethnographic items related to the cultural life history of the region, and archaeological artifacts found in the city and its surroundings. The museum building was built in 1894 by Kırkkilise Governor Neşet Pasha and Mayor Hacı Mestan Efendi. The building was used as the town hall until 1962. In the 1970s, the building was evacuated and left to rot. The restoration of the building started in 1983 and continued with interruptions, and it was completed in 1993 and opened as a museum. The museum is a two-story building with a basement. There are arch-like windows on all four sides of the reinforced concrete building. A bay window on the first floor in the middle of the façade is supported by four columns surrounding the main entrance. The museum consists of three sections: "culture and nature", "ethnography" and "archaeology". There are a total of 3,507 registered artifacts in the museum, including 1,882 coins, 1,110 archaeological artifacts and 515 ethnographic artifacts. The museum serves as a center for historical research of the region as well as for collaborating, helping and guiding scientific institutions. Its main duty is to register the natural and cultural assets in the region. Currently, a total of 269 artifacts are listed on the registry, including 98 archaeological sites, 3 urban areas, 13 natural reserve areas, and 155 single-built historical sites. The museum is open seven days a week, from April 15 to October 26, from 9:00 to 18:00 local time. It is closed on Mondays. Entry to the museum is free. In 2013, a total of 9,362 people, including 417 foreign tourists, visited the museum. In 2014, 9,066 visitors came, 535 of whom were from abroad.
