Uzungöl Dursun Ali İnan Museum in Trabzon, Turkey

Uzungöl Dursun Ali İnan Museum brings together the local history, domestic life, crafts and natural environment of Uzungöl with objects collected by its founder, Dursun Ali İnan. The museum occupies approximately 4,000 square meters and is arranged around three main sections: a museum building devoted largely to local history and culture, a traditional Uzungöl house, and a collection of works made from tree roots alongside stones found in the region.

Dursun Ali İnan’s Collection

Dursun Ali İnan developed the museum from objects he had collected for about 30 years. The collection includes regional material as well as archaeological objects, while other displays document Uzungöl through written and visual records. Rather than concentrating on a single historical period, the museum records different parts of community life and the ways the settlement changed over time.

İnan also worked for many years with naturally formed tree roots. Some became sculptures, animal-like figures and pieces of furniture. This part of his work eventually became one of the museum’s three principal exhibition areas.

Local History in the Main Building

The main building covers a broad range of subjects connected directly with Uzungöl and the surrounding Çaykara district. Displays address local geography and history, migrations during the previous century, periods of conflict, archaeological material and traditional systems of weights.

Everyday life receives considerable attention. Childhood, dowry and wedding customs, food culture, religious and domestic architecture, carpentry and milling are represented alongside agriculture, livestock raising and beekeeping. Other material deals with local wildlife and the development of tourism in Uzungöl. Dursun Ali İnan’s own life story is also included in this section.

An unusual exhibit in the main building is a mechanical kemençe player. The figure is designed to move its eyes, feet, fingers, head and body in time with the music while performing with the bowed instrument closely associated with the eastern Black Sea region.

The Traditional Uzungöl House

The second section recreates an older Uzungöl household using regional architectural forms. Its spaces include a serander, the raised storage structure traditionally used in the Black Sea region, as well as storage space, a guest room, a tandır room, a stable and an area representing ordinary domestic life.

The house is intended to show aspects of life in Uzungöl roughly a century ago rather than functioning simply as an architectural model. Interior displays include three silicone figures and material concerning older technologies used in daily life. Elements around the culture house include a wooden bridge built in a traditional style and a stone pool.

Tree Roots and Stones

The third section contains tree-root works created by Dursun Ali İnan together with stones collected in the region. İnan worked on the root pieces over a period of about 25 years, interpreting naturally shaped roots as animals and other living forms rather than treating them as ordinary discarded wood.

The museum connects the origin of this work with an avalanche in Uzungöl in 1993. Tree roots exposed after the event provided material that İnan began examining for recognizable natural forms. The resulting pieces are presented together in a dedicated exhibition area, making them distinct from the historical and ethnographic material elsewhere in the museum.

What the Museum Documents About Uzungöl

The collections extend beyond preserved household objects. Written and visual material records Uzungöl’s geography, flora, fauna and social life, while exhibits on farming, animal husbandry, crafts, architecture and tourism show how people used the surrounding landscape. Trabzon’s Explore Trabzon platform reports that the museum contains close to 2,000 pieces of visual and written content concerning Uzungöl’s traditions, social life and natural environment.

The museum is on Fatih Caddesi in Uzungöl. Its grounds also contain areas for rest, local-product sales, cafeteria facilities and parking. Because admission arrangements and operating conditions can change, visitors planning a trip can confirm the latest details through the museum’s official website or telephone contact before arriving.