Fethiye Museum

When you visit Fethiye, you stand amongst so much tangible and physical history. The area of Fethiye experienced the Lycian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman eras. With Fethiye’s palpable history surrounding you, the Fethiye Müzesi (museum) presents you with the opportunity to not only see the history around you, but experience and better understand the vast history that Fethiye holds. So, though the lovely beaches surrounding you are certainly enticing, a trip to this museum is well worth your time for a chance to experience the local history and culture and get a nice break from the sun.

1. Getting There

This hidden gem of a museum is slightly tucked away in the city centre near the open markets. However, given good signage, it is fairly easy to find in its little secluded place. And, though some did find it slightly difficult to find, your walk around the city will be a beautiful adventure and the museum will certainly be worth the extra wandering.

2. The Museum

The museum itself is quite small with only two rooms, but is well worth the visit. The museum features several different types of artifacts procured from in and around ancient Telmessos, Tlos, and Kaunos. It displays stelae, which are ancient slabs of intricately engraved stone or wood that once served as gravestones, jewelry, pottery, and other fascinating artifacts you would not find elsewhere. Its most impressive and well known artifact, however, is the trilingual stele that displays the ancient Lycian language along with ancient Greek and ancient Aramaic. This stone was found in the nearby ancient site, Letoon, and was instrumental in deciphering the Lycian language.

While the museum holds grand and impressive artifacts, such as the trilingual stele, it also contains much smaller and more seemingly mundane artifacts that would have been used by the people living in the area centuries ago. Just seeing this type of ordinary history laid out before you is enough to remind you of the immense history that remains hidden throughout and beneath Fethiye.

Not only do these two rooms offer you the chance to experience and better understand Fethiye’s rich history. The museum extends beyond these rooms into an outdoor garden filled with yet more history for you to learn. Along with the many found all across the region, the museum contains Lycian Sarcophogi and ancient Christian tombs.

This small, but impressive, museum will open your eyes to the ancient lives that once inhabited Fethiye.