Amasya Museum (Arkeoloji ve Etnografya Müzesi)

The Amasya Museum (Amasya Müzesi — Arkeoloji ve Etnografya Müzesi), housed in a purpose-built two-storey structure on Atatürk Caddesi, is the principal repository of the region's archaeological and ethnographic heritage and one of the most visited provincial museums in Turkey's Black Sea and northern Anatolian zone. The collection spans the Chalcolithic through the Ottoman period, with particular depth in the Hittite Bronze Age, the Hellenistic Pontic Kingdom, and the Ilkhanid medieval eras. The archaeological galleries on the ground floor open with pre-Hittite and Hittite bronzes—fibulae, weapons, figurines, and seal impressions—excavated from sites across Amasya province, followed by Urartian metalwork and Phrygian ceramics. The Pontic section features gold jewellery, coins of Mithridates VI, and Greek-script inscriptions recovered from the Yeşilırmak valley. The museum's most celebrated holding is a group of fourteen naturally mummified human remains from the Ilkhanid period (13th–14th centuries), discovered beneath the Gök Medrese in 1943. These mummies, preserved by the dry conditions of the underground burial vault, are displayed in a dedicated chamber with bilingual interpretive panels explaining the circumstances of their preservation and historical context. The ethnographic wing on the upper floor presents Ottoman-era domestic life—kilims, embroidered textiles, copperware, and traditional costume—alongside a section documenting the historic primary education tradition for which Amasya was famed across the Ottoman Empire. The museum underwent a partial renovation between 2018 and 2021.