Gaziantep's Museums Trail: Kutnu Silk, Mother-of-Pearl, Mevlevihane and Panorama

Few cities in Turkey have invested as thoughtfully in restoring historic buildings into specialist museums as Gaziantep. Within a ten-minute walk of Gaziantep Castle and Tahmis Kahvesi, half a dozen intimate museums let you step inside 17th-century dervish lodges, stone cave cellars and glass collections for free or a few lira.

Five Walkable Boutique Museums Around the Castle

1. The Gaziantep Mevlevihane Vakıf Museum (Inside the 1638 Tekke Mosque Complex, next to Tahmis Kahvesi): built in 1638 by Mustafa Ağa around a serene stone courtyard shaded by trees, this former lodge of the Whirling Dervishes (Mevleviler) houses a dazzling museum of Ottoman religious art. Inside the domed wooden Semahane (whirling hall) and dervish cells, inspect 15th- to 19th-century gold-illuminated Qur'ans, giant flat brass candlesticks, dervish musical instruments (ney flutes and kudüm drums), and extraordinary hand-woven carpets Depicting the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.
2. Medusa Archaeological Glass Works Museum (Right below the Castle on Dere Kenarı Sokak): housed in a restored historic Antep stone house, this private museum displays over 1,500 intact Roman, Byzantine and Islamic blown-glass perfume bottles (unguentaria), tear vials, bracelets and bronze surgical tools.
3. Panorama 25 Aralık Museum (Immediately west of Gaziantep Castle): opened in 2020 right beside the castle moat, this monumental circular museum features a 120-metre-long, 360-degree panoramic oil painting painted by Russian artist Alexander Samsonov (accompanied by three-dimensional foreground trenches and soundscapes) depicting the 1920 to 1921 Defense of Antep.
4. Ali İhsan Göğüş Museum & Gaziantep Research Centre (In Bey Mahallesi): dedicated to the life of Turkey's first Minister of Tourism and the press history of the region inside a classic stone mansion.
5. Shopping for Mother-of-Pearl Inlay (Sedef Kakma) and Kutnu Silk: inside Gümrük Hanı and the upper floors of the Copper Bazaar, watch masters chiselling microscopic grooves into aged walnut wood and hammering in brass wire and iridescent mother-of-pearl shell from the Euphrates and Red Sea to create jewellery boxes, backgammon boards and folding chairs.