The world's first Oil Lamp Museum is in Ankara: 1,400 pieces on display
The Oil Lamp Museum, located in the Beypazarı district of Ankara, has hosted thousands of domestic tourists since the day it was founded. Established four months ago, the center holds the distinction of being the world's first Oil Lamp Museum and features a collection of 1,400 'oil lamps'.
İHA
The museum, established with donations from collector Süreyya Özkan, houses oil lamps used in Europe and America.
Citizens visiting the museum reminisce about their past when they see the oil lamps they used in their childhood. In addition, the museum, which has free admission, also features figures of wild animals such as bears, foxes, storks, vultures, eagles, badgers, and deer.
'THERE ARE 1,400 OIL LAMPS'
Museum staff member Birsen Çoşar welcomes tourists to the center every day wearing traditional Beypazarı attire.
Çoşar said, "There are 1,400 oil lamps. It is the only one in the world, from the first lamp to the last. Mr. Süreyya Özkan collected them from Europe, America, and all corners of the world and donated them here. We even have 'administrative oil lamps' from the very first ones here."
'THIS PLACE WAS A MOVIE THEATER'
Stating that dead animals found in Beypazarı by teams from the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks are taxidermied and donated to the Oil Lamp Museum, Çoşar said, "This place was a movie theater. Meetings and everything else happened here, but in the end, it was deemed worthy of being a lamp museum. Our mayor deemed this place worthy of a lamp museum. Now, these animals die in nature of natural causes. National Parks finds them and has them stuffed. These are real animals. They are all animals that live here."