Kars Cheese Museum

Overview

The Kars Cheese Museum tells the story of the cheeses of the Kars plateau, in eastern Turkey. It opened in 2022 inside the Süvari Tabya, a stone bastion built in 1734 in the center of Kars. Inside, models and displays follow milk on its way to becoming gravyer, kaşar, çeçil and the other cheeses of the region. It ends, fittingly, in a cheese shop.

Quick facts

• Opened: 2022
• Building: the Süvari Tabya, a bastion of 1734
• Cheeses: gravyer, Kars kaşarı, çeçil, tulum and more

Cheese on the Plateau

Kars sits on a high plateau, and its pastures make its cheese. The first gravyer dairy opened in the village of Boğatepe in 1890, founded by Swiss cheesemakers who had come to the Caucasus from the Alps. In fact, Kars gravyer comes from the milk of cows grazing summer pastures at 1,800 to 2,000 meters. The great wheels, 55 to 70 centimeters across, mature for six months to a year. Both Kars gravyer and Kars kaşarı are registered geographical indications.

What to See at the Kars Cheese Museum

Inside the bastion

The displays follow the cheeses one by one: gravyer above all, then Kars kaşarı, çeçil, Kars yağlı tulum, kaşar loru, Türkmen saçak peyniri and others. In addition, small models show life on the summer pastures, and there are a model of Kars station and of the old Kars houses. Moreover, a barn holds the animal breeds of the plateau, and another room shows the plants that grow on its pastures. One section gives recipes made with the cheeses, and a workshop sits beside the shop and the cafeteria.

Visiting the Kars Cheese Museum

The museum is in Ortakapı, at the foot of the bastion (Tabya Altı, 1. Şener Sokak), in central Kars. Hours are not printed on any official page, so ask us to confirm before you plan a visit.

Updated: November 1, 2026.

Our suggestion

Visit the museum before dinner on your day in Kars, then buy a piece of gravyer in its shop to take home.

Seeing the Kars Cheese Museum with Us

Our Eastern Turkey tour starts in Kars with the castle, the Russian-era streets and the cheese museum, and the Eastern Express journey tastes Kars gravyer before dinner. Send us your train or flight times, and we will fit the museum into your first afternoon.