Giresun Museum

Overview

The Giresun Museum fills a 19th-century stone church in the old Zeytinlik quarter, so the building is part of the visit. Our Şebinkarahisar tour starts here before the drive inland.

The Story of the Giresun Museum

The local Greek Orthodox community built the church, later known as Aziz Nikola, and used it until 1924. After the population exchange it stood empty, and from 1948 to 1967 it served as a prison. It was restored between 1982 and 1988, and in 1988 it opened as a museum.

What to See in the Giresun Museum

The collection runs from the Early Bronze Age to the Ottoman era. So, after the finds, take a moment for the building itself: the stone walls and the space of the old church.

The Church Building

The church stands near the sea at the eastern foot of the castle hill, and it was known as the Gagara Church. It has a cross plan inside a rectangle, with a high central dome on a drum, all in grey and brown cut stone. The main door is on the west side, and two smaller doors open on the south and north. North of the church, a smaller building probably served as the priest’s house; since 1993 it holds the museum offices. So the collection fills the church and the two-room cellar next to it. Around the museum, the lanes of Zeytinlik have formed an urban conservation area since 1991, with about 80 registered houses.

Finds From the Island and Erik Limanı

The archaeology rooms show work from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Look for small clay figures, kitchen pots, amphoras, coins and architectural pieces, together with finds from Giresun Island and from Erik Limanı. Then move on to the ethnography section, with local clothes, kitchen and bath tools, weapons, carpets and jewelry.

So, after the island finds, you may want to see the island itself. It lies about 1.6 km (1 mile) off the center and covers about 40,000 m² (10 acres). Its medieval walls, church, chapel, cistern, storage jars and tombs still stand, and excavations there continue, with finds going back to about the 4th century BC.

How to Visit the Giresun Museum

The museum stands in Zeytinlik, the old quarter of Giresun. We arrange your visit to the museum on a Giresun day.

Would you like to see Giresun with someone who knows it from the inside? Our founder’s family lives in Giresun, so we plan a day on the coast, a boat to the island and, in August, a visit during the hazelnut harvest. The museum in the old church fits a day in town on our Black Sea tour or on one of our tailor-made trips; the rest is in our Giresun guide.