In the middle of an olive grove and fields that presumably bloom in spring, a striking, rust-red cuboid rises up, which, with its height of around 50 metres and narrow windows, has an almost forbidding presence in the landscape. On closer inspection, this architectural marvel, which at first seems irritating, turns out to be the Troy Museum, a modern interpretation of the ancient defence tower of Troy.
The taz writes: "It is by far the most successful museum in Turkey. Where the excavation site, where Heinrich Schliemann first set his spade in 1870 to archaeologically underpin Homer's epic of the Trojan War, still puzzles visitors today, the new museum provides answers."
Even though we had already been here once in 2021, I was keen to visit the museum again. The excavations of Troy, actually of 10 different Trojas (the pictures below show the variants), were less appealing to us than the really brilliant museum.
At half past eight, we are standing in front of the door that forms the entrance to the museum at the end of a ramp leading downwards. Once again, we are the only visitors. We stroll up and down for two hours, looking at the exhibits and the architecture. We are enthralled by interactive demonstrations and travel through time.
The taz continues: "The Troy Museum simulates the neighbouring excavation site in an almost ingenious way. On the individual floors of the tower, the excavation layers of the neighbouring hill are reproduced from bottom to top. You enter the building via a ramp that leads deep into the earth. The first two floors of the museum are surrounded by fields and olive trees and are dedicated to the beginnings of the settlement of the region in general and the castle hill in particular".
It is interesting that even the "treasure theft" for which Schliemann is responsible, and of which one does not only have good things to think, is thematised. The museum refuses to exhibit replicas. They know that the originals can now be admired in Russia. And they simply refuse to accept the fact that the treasure of Troy cannot be exhibited in Troy. So exhibits can be found in British, Russian, German and American museums.
We are very impressed by how openly and directly this is dealt with in the exhibition.
After two hours in the "private museum", we make our way to Izmir, towards the Turkish Aegean, find a delicious breakfast, plan our route and realise that Turkey really is huge. We've only travelled a short distance. And we want to go all the way east.
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
Do you think our travel experiences might be of interest to others? Then you can share the Share post quietly. By e-mail or however you want to do it.
In addition, if you haven't already done so, you can use our Newsletter subscribe. Here you will receive all our experiences in your mailbox whenever we publish something new or once a week on Fridays: live-pur.ch/newsletter
We are also very happy to hear your views, your tips or your questions. Just comment on the post!
