The Ethnography Museum is one of the most informative tourist attractions in Izmir and full of relics of the glorious past of the city. Situated just next to the Archeology Museum of Izmir, the museum was built on a sloped terrace in neoclassical style in 1831. This fine old stone building, known to be used as St. Roch Hospital to treat the people who suffered from plague, was converted into a care house for poor Christian families and orphans after being repaired by the French in 1845.
Once İzmir’s Sanitation Institution and Department of Public Health, the building was restored between the years of 1985-1988 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and arranged as ethnography museum.
The museum is consisted of three floors above the ground floor. The 1st and 2nd floors are used as exhibition halls and the 3rd floor is used as warehouse, laboratory, photograph studio and office.
A wonderful collection of folkloric art displayed in the first and second floors of the museum reflects the lifestyle, customs and traditions of Izmir and its vicinity in the 19th century.
In the museum, the samples of traditional handicrafts, which are about to disappear today due to industrialization, such as felt making, wood block printing, clog making, blue bead making, tin processing, rope weaving and pottery are exhibited and introduced.
All the artifacts at the museum are well described as there are placards under every item on display. The visitors will not have any difficulty in knowing what the item is and how it is relevant to the social life of the citizens of Izmir and its nearby.
1st Floor Exhibition Hall:
Starting from the right hand side, a fully decorated living room from a 19th century Turkish residence, embroideries, informative panels and photographs about the “Houses in and around Izmir” including “Turkish Houses” and “Levantine Houses”, bath sets, a number of colorfully re-created small ateliers of glass bead making, wood block printing for scarves and cloth, Ittihat Eczanesi (Pharmacie Ittihat), the first Turkish pharmacy opened in Izmir in 1903 and all the essential medicine equipments that a pharmacy should have at that time, clog and rope making, felt-making and tin-plating and related tools of these handicrafts can be seen respectively. The potter’s craft from Menemen, a district of Izmir known to be famous for its pottery, examples of saddlery and saddlery tools are displayed. Izmir’s famous tamarind sorbet seller welcomes the visitors from the past. Explanations and displays relating to camel wrestling, costumes of swashbucklers called “Efe” are exhibited in this hall. In the embedded showcases in the interior sections of the hall, purses, crochet and needlework purses, hand woven socks, towels, bed lining, decorative fabrics, handkerchiefs, mother of pearl inlaid objects and glasses are displayed.
2nd Floor Exhibition Hall:
On the right hand side of this hall: An accurate reconstruction of a 19th century bridal chamber with its authentic furniture including bedstead, wedding chest and chest of drawers can be seen. Bridal garments “ Harballı” and “Bindallı” embroidered with silver and gold thread on satin and velvet using “Tel kırma” and “Dival” techniques, just next to them stands the living room with its furniture including carpets on the floor, brazier,an ornamentedcradle, candles on the walls and velvet curtains. After living room, the circumcision room and kitchen utensils including tin plated round copper tray, plates, wooden spoons, copper pitchers and coffee mills can be seen in the same section. Richly ornamented bridal headgears from different provinces of the Aegean Region, jewelries such as bracelets, earrings, buckets and belts are some of the eye catching items displayed. Ottoman period writing sets and manuscripts are also exhibited in this section.
In addition to the old war tools such as arrows, bows, armors, spears, battle-axes, bayonets and swords, a variety of weapons belonging to 17th, 18th and 19th centuries such as rifles, pistols, matchlock and flint barrels are exhibited.
Ethnography Museum houses a wonderful variety of Bergama, Milas, Gördes, Kula, Uşak and Balıkesir-Yağcıbedir carpets and kilims. The visitors are bewildered at the excellent craftwork done on carpets and kilims. In this section, it is also possible to see saddle bags, carpet bags and a carpet loom.
Camel Wrestling:
Camel wrestling, a special event of Turkish folklore and culture, generally takes place in the western part of Turkey in an area extending from Çanakkale to Antalya. It is assumed that camel wrestling in Turkey comes from the period when caravans and nomads were widespread. The most well-known camel wrestling in Turkey is held in Selçuk, a district of Izmir, in January. Winter is the only time for camel wrestling as it is also the mating season. Male rivals who are trying to draw the attention of a female begin to fight. This is when the man, who is keen on getting animals to fight, takes advantage of the seasonal changes that he observes in the male camels and encourages them to fight each other.
Before wrestling, each male camel is dressed like a bridegroom. The owners adorn their camels with bells on their humps, mirrored blanket on their backs and colorful pompoms in their tails. The male camels are taken into the wrestling field and then a female camel is brought to the arena to incite the males and make them even more aggressive. The wrestling judges match the camels against each other with their past victories, wrestling technique and weight. These judges are also authorized to separate the camels if necessary and to decide which one is the winner. They are also responsible for preventing the victor from hurting or trampling on his defeated rival.Serious injuries during fights are rare since camels are muzzled. The defeated camel is the one whose back touches the ground when he falls, who ran off from the ring, or who fails to continue the fight when he has risen after a fall.Each winning owner is awarded a carpet.
Felt Making
Felt making has been a craft of great value in the daily life of Turks since the time of the central Asian Turks. The first Turkish people, who used felt, were the Hun Turks in the 6th century B.C. who decorated the floors and roofs of their tents with felt. Felt is a fabric created primarily from sheep’s wool. It may be made from the fibers of hair of the camel, goat, horse, ox or any other animal. Unlike other fabrics, felt is not produced by the interleaving of weft and warp but by the interlocking and fusion of free woolen fiber. Felt has an important place among textiles. Felt keeps out the cold, keeps one warm and is waterproof.
Felt is also decorative. Big pieces of felt, decorated in colorful styles, are used to adorn horses, covering the animal from head to tail. The horse carrying the bride after the wedding was traditionally decorated with a harness of felt. Shepherds still use the felt cloak known as “kepenek” however. Today this craft is carried on in Tire, a district of Izmir and in the province of Afyon in the Aegean Region by very few families.
Evil Eye Bead Making
“Nazar boncuğu”, literally meaning the “evil eye bead”, is actually a glass bead, which is worn to protect oneself and his beloved ones from evil looks. It is believed to be an eye that looks straight back at the spell-caster.
The evil eye bead is usually made of blue glass with white and yellow or white and blue circles inside. Today the glimmering evil eye beads are produced with traditional methods by a handful of craftsmen only in Görece and Kurudere villages in Izmir.