In the Ottoman dynasty, princes who were candidates for the throne were sent at a young age to govern a sanjak, and there they learned the business of government by practising it. Among these sanjaks Amasya held a place of its own. Counted with Manisa, Kütahya, Konya and Trabzon as a princely sanjak, the city served for a long time as the dynasty's training ground, thanks to its position in the Yeşilırmak valley and its closeness to the routes of the eastern campaigns. The Şehzadeler Museum (Museum of the Princes), run by the Amasya Governorate's Special Provincial Administration, was created to make this tradition visible through statues, costumes and the interior arrangement of an Ottoman mansion. It stands on the northern bank of the Yeşilırmak, at the entrance to the Hatuniye quarter, on top of the old city walls.

The Museum's Setting

The two-storey timber building stands at the left end of the Alçak Bridge (the "Low Bridge"), one of the oldest bridges of the Yalıboyu waterfront. Above it, the Pontic royal tombs cut into the slope of Mount Harşena form a backdrop behind the museum. Seen from the promenade laid out on the southern bank in the 2000s, the mansion sits within the same skyline as the Yalıboyu houses, which are built wall to wall along the river. This strip, the core of the city, lies among four bridges built in the Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk periods, and in every age it has been the living centre of Amasya.

The bridge on which the museum leans has a long story of its own. Most present-day sources assign the Alçak Bridge to the Roman period and say it was built to carry traffic from the citadel to the quarters opposite; Hüseyin Hüsameddin, however, counts it among the works of the Pontic state. In his account the original bridge was built of granite with small arches and was so sound that it never needed repair, but as the riverbed silted up its arches disappeared under the earth and the bridge grew steadily lower, which is how it got its name. Thick, square masonry piers were later set on top of the arches. People crossed the old bridge until 1281 AH (1864-65), when the mutasarrıf Ziya Paşa, mindful of the danger of floods, used the old structure as a foundation and had a timber bridge built on top of it. That timber bridge was swept away in the flood of 1298 (1880-81) and the following year, with help from benefactors, it was rebuilt with masonry piers and a timber deck. Three distinct building phases, Pontic, Seljuk-Ottoman and Republican, can be traced in the bridge today, which is why local people call it the "Bridge of Three Civilisations".

The northern end of the bridge was once the site of one of the gates leading into the part of the city called the Inner Citadel. According to Hüsameddin, of the two gates in the great riverside wall one lay on the Helkis side and the other in front of the Alçak Bridge. The gate before the bridge was called the "Palace Gate"; it was made of black marble with a most elegant arch, and in 1281 Ziya Paşa had it pulled down as superfluous. Its name came from the palace that rose behind it. A visitor who crosses the bridge to reach the museum today is standing at the start of what was once the road up to the princes' palace.

Kızlar Sarayı and the Princes' Residence

Amasya Castle consists of three parts, from top to bottom: the Upper Castle known as Harşena Castle, Kızlar Sarayı (the "Maidens' Palace") on the terrace in front of the royal rock tombs, and the Lower Castle or Lower Palace, where the Hatuniye quarter stands today. The bank on which the museum sits is the foot of this third section where it meets the river. Hüsameddin states plainly that the Alçak Bridge lies "in line with Kızlar Sarayı"; the museum, in other words, stands by the river directly below the palace that was the real residence of the Ottoman princes in Amasya. Describing the ruins of Kızlar Sarayı from his own observation, Hüsameddin records that the palace had two gates, inner and outer sections, a garden, two baths and a kitchen, that most of these lay buried, and that its outer wall and gate were still standing. The southern gate was very large and faced west; the small eastern gate opened in front of the Helkis quarter by way of a tunnel-like passage.

There is an old debate over the palace's name. In his Cihannüma, Kâtip Çelebi calls the building the "İsfendiyar Palace" and connects this with İsfendiyar Bey, ruler of Kastamonu, having lived there. Hüsameddin does not find this explanation convincing: İsfendiyar Bey had come to Amasya as an envoy and stayed in the palace for only about a month, and it seemed unlikely to him that a palace which for more than a hundred and fifty years had housed Ottoman princes, their consorts and princesses should be named after him. Relying on the Islamic court registers, he says that from 990 AH (1582) the palace stood empty and that a notable of Amasya, Seydi Alizade İsfendiyar Çelebi, lived there for a long time as its appointed overseer, so the name most probably came from him. The record also shows that the palace fell empty soon after the princes withdrew from Amasya.

Below the palace, on the slope between the castle and the river, lay the Saray (Palace) quarter. Hüsameddin notes that this quarter was bounded on the north by Kızlar Sarayı, that while the palace was in good order its servants and attendants lived at a place called "Kırk Bedel", and that the chief of the palace women's household, Firuz Ağa, built a small mosque here in 900 AH (1494-95). One member of the dynasty who grew up in the palace was Selçuk Hatun, daughter of Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed), born in Amasya in 814 (1411-12); Hüsameddin writes that she was raised in Kızlar Sarayı. The palace also suffered with the fortunes of the city. It is known that the palace and the castle, wrecked by the rebels who briefly took Amasya in 1512, were promptly repaired by Şehzade Ahmed when he proclaimed his sultanate.

The remains of Kızlar Sarayı are now being brought out of the ground again. Excavations conducted at Harşena Castle and Kızlar Sarayı since 2009 confirm that in the Ottoman period these areas held a mosque, a madrasa, a bath and a prison; on the surface, apart from two restored pavilion baths and some ruins at Kızlar Sarayı, little remains. Among the coins found in the excavations is a silver piece struck at Amasya in the name of Sultan Selim and read as dated 918 (1512). In this sense the wax figures in the museum seem to have brought down to the riverbank the residents of a palace that lies buried on the slope above.

The Yalıboyu Houses and the Lost Mansion

The museum was placed on this bank deliberately. The building stands on the site of one of the Yalıboyu houses that once lined the whole bank, and was modelled on it. The lower storeys of these houses, set side by side along the river, mostly lean against the city wall, while their upper storeys project out over the water. The museum follows the same arrangement: a stone base resting on the wall, and above it a timber-framed body with eaves and a projecting upper floor.

The Yalıboyu houses are Amasya's version of the traditional Turkish house and mostly date from the second half of the nineteenth century. Ground floors set on stone or on the city wall were used for service and storage, and daily life went on upstairs. The gaps in the timber frame were filled with earth, the technique known as hımış, and in some examples plaster was applied over rows of laths. Against the damp rising from the river, lime plaster mixed with hemp and mud plaster mixed with straw were used, and the eaves and window frames were painted with red ochre. On the façade facing south, towards the river, windows are set in groups of three, in a ratio of 2:3 on the lower floors and 1:2 on the upper; openings facing the street were fitted with wooden lattices for privacy. Some houses have extra rooms on the roof, known as şahnişin, lit from three sides. Plans vary with the position of the hall, or sofa: there are examples with inner, outer, corner and central halls.

Most of the houses, built on narrow, deep plots, consist of two blocks. The larger block near the river served as the harem, the smaller one near the street as the selamlık, and the courtyard between them held a hearth and a well. Male guests could thus be received on the side close to the public space without entering the inner rooms of the house. The usual fittings of the traditional house are found here too: hearths, built-in bedding cupboards, bathing closets, divans and shelves, along with carved wood, painted plaster, stucco and metal ornament. Researchers believe that some of the houses were used by the princes' mothers and the pashas who came to the city with them. Some interpretations hold that longing for Istanbul shaped this close relationship with the river, but these are later readings rather than claims based on documents. Given that the present houses date from the nineteenth century, it should also be borne in mind that at least two or three centuries separate them from the waterfront buildings of the princes' era.

The fate of these houses also marked the start of the conservation debate in Amasya. At a time when the city had been damaged by the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, by floods and by fires, and when traditional buildings were being altered for other uses under the pressure of tourism, a 1979 council decision divided the city into seven conservation areas; the section containing the Yalıboyu houses was designated "Area No. 2", and building activity other than minor repairs was halted until a conservation plan could be prepared. Interim conservation plan decisions in 1981 limited storey heights and façade openings. In 1992 civil and monumental buildings were grouped separately and the continued registration of 126 civil buildings was envisaged. In 1994, under the Yalıboyu Houses Conservation Project formed jointly by the local government and a civic initiative, 80 houses were registered, and in 1996 the Amasya Foundation for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets was established.

Despite all these measures, one of the registered mansions was demolished by its owner in 1986. According to the governorate's records, the building that stood on the museum's site was one of 67 registered Yalıboyu mansions. The figures vary from source to source: 67 appears in the museum's promotional texts, while 80 and 126 appear in conservation council decisions of different dates, and each counts something different. Twenty-one years after the demolition, in 2007, the Amasya Governorate had the building reconstructed faithfully to the original. The timber mansion raised in place of the old building was fitted out as a museum by the Special Provincial Administration and opened to visitors in 2008. Some news reports give the opening year as 2007; this seems to arise from confusing the year construction was completed with the year of the official opening. According to information reported in the press in 2016, preparing the museum cost about 1.2 million lira.

Two Floors, Two Fates

The exhibition rests on a simple division. The lower floor holds wax figures of princes who governed Amasya as sanjak-beys but never reached the throne. The upper floor displays the rulers who spent their princely years in Amasya and later became sultans. As visitors climb the stairs, they also trace, symbolically, the path from sanjak governor to the throne. According to archaeologist Zuhal Korkut, who worked as a guide at the museum, speaking in 2016, the lower floor holds five princes and the upper floor seven sultans.

The lower-floor figures commemorate Prince Mustafa and Prince Bayezid, sons of Süleyman the Magnificent; Prince Ahmed and Prince Alaeddin, sons of Murad II; and Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II. Another of the museum's promotional texts lists only Mustafa, Bayezid, Ahmed and Alaeddin on this floor; the discrepancy between the sources stems from four names being given against a count of five figures. The seven statues upstairs represent Bayezid I (Yıldırım), Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed), Murad II, Mehmed II (the Conqueror), Bayezid II, Selim I (Selim the Grim) and Murad III. The traces this company left in Amasya are not equally documented; for some, the governorship was a period lasting years that left mosques and madrasas in the city, while for others it is known only from a brief record or remains disputed.

What the lower-floor group shares is its association with the harshest reckonings in Ottoman dynastic history. It is no surprise, then, that the museum's most sought-after figure is Prince Mustafa. Korkut said that visitors show most interest in the life story of Prince Mustafa, followed by that of Mehmed, the conqueror of Istanbul. The Amasya details of the lives briefly told on the screens are known largely from the endowment deeds, court registers and chronicle records that Hüseyin Hüsameddin gathered in his History of Amasya.

The Princes on the Lower Floor

Ahmed and Alaeddin, Sons of Murad II

Murad II's eldest son, Prince Ahmed, was born in Amasya in 823 AH (1420-21) and at the beginning of 838 (1434-35), aged fifteen, came to the city as governor together with his brothers Alaeddin and Mehmed. His lala (tutor-guardian) and the guardian of Amasya was the vizier Şeyhi Mahmud Paşa; on his death in 839 the second vizier Yörgüç Paşa was appointed in his place. The great endowment Yörgüç Paşa made in 840 (1436-37) for his charitable buildings in Amasya is among the most tangible documents surviving from these years. Ahmed died in Amasya in 841 (1437-38). Hüsameddin writes that he lies in Narlı Bahçe, opposite the Şehzadeler Türbesi (Tomb of the Princes), beneath a dome set apart for him, and against later historians who place the prince in Bursa with a tomb plaque dated 845, he relies on the Behcetü't-Tevârîh of his contemporary, the Amasya historian Şükrullah Çelebi. No other document has been found that would settle the question between the two views.

A local tradition reported by Hüsameddin tells that during the feast at the end of Ramadan in 841 the three princes visited Gümüşlüzade Pir Celaleddin Abdurrahman Çelebi, sheikh of the Pir İlyas Halveti lodge, and that the sheikh laid his cloak on the shoulders of Mehmed, the youngest. People took this as a sign that the youngest prince would become sultan, and when Ahmed died two and a half months later the story lodged in their minds. The tale plainly speaks the language of a hagiography and has no documentary value, but it shows how the people of Amasya remembered the different fates of three brothers raised in the same palace.

The third prince, Alaeddin Ali, was born in Edirne around 828 (1424-25), according to Hüsameddin. After Ahmed's death he was first sent to Manisa, then exchanged places with his brother Mehmed and came back to Amasya. His lala was Yörgüç Paşa and his teacher the Amasya scholar Hatibzade Taceddin İbrahim Efendi. In 842 (1438-39) he married Yeni Hatun, of the line of Şadi Bey; the lavish wedding roused the suspicion of the devşirme circle at court. In 846 (1442-43) Alaeddin joined his father on the campaign against Karaman, distinguished himself, and with permission returned from Bursa to Amasya; but Kara Hızır Paşa, sent after him, entered the city by night and strangled him in his bed. His two sons, aged one year and six months, were also strangled and buried in the Torumtay Tomb. After his death the judge and the mufti of Amasya were dismissed and the prince's household was dispersed. According to a tale spread by some historians, Alaeddin escaped before he could be strangled, a slave who resembled him was killed in his place, and he made his way to India, where he became the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty in the Deccan. Hüsameddin merely reports this tradition and offers no documents in support.

Prince Ahmed, Son of Bayezid II

The second Ahmed on the lower floor is the son of Bayezid II by Bülbül Hatun. He was born in Amasya in 870 (1465-66), while his father was governor of the sanjak, and became governor of Amasya in 886 (1481) when his father left for Istanbul to take the throne. Over a governorship of more than thirty years a large household gathered in the city; Hüsameddin writes that the prince's excessive regard for a Persian judge, chancellor and physician displeased the people and damaged his standing. Ahmed, his father's eldest surviving son, fell behind his brother Selim in the race for the throne in 1512, and in Rebiülahir 918 he proclaimed his sultanate in Amasya, had the Friday sermon read in his name, appointed viziers and repaired the palace and castle wrecked by the rebels. According to Hüsameddin he set out trusting in letters of allegiance from Istanbul, among which were forged letters written on Selim's instructions. He lost the battle with his brother near Yenişehir, fell from his horse and was taken prisoner, and in Zilhicce 918 (early 1513) was strangled with his own bowstring. His body was buried in Bursa in the tomb of Murad II. Of his sons, Murad fled to Iran, while Alaeddin and Kasım fled to Egypt.

Mustafa and Bayezid, Sons of Süleyman the Magnificent

The date of Prince Mustafa's arrival in Amasya is given differently in the sources. Hüsameddin shows him as governor of Amasya in 945 (1538-39), aged twenty-four; Funda Demirtaş's study of the prince's death, however, drawing on Ottoman sources, writes that the transfer from Manisa to Amasya took place in 948 (1541) and amounted to his removal from a sanjak close to the centre. According to Demirtaş, Mustafa was deeply grieved by the transfer; the death in 1543 of his brother Mehmed, who had been sent to Manisa, raised his hopes, but the dispatch of Hürrem Sultan's son Selim to Manisa dashed them. The letters he wrote from Amasya asking his father for permission to meet him and apologise, up to one dated 958 (1551), received no favourable reply.

Hüsameddin describes Mustafa's circle in Amasya in detail. The prince loved literature; his chancellor Nefisoğlu Hamdi Hamdullah Çelebi, his treasurer Lütfullah Lutfi Bey and his divan secretary Fazli Çelebi were poets, and the well-known scholars of Amasya sat in his gatherings. In 951 (1544-45) Molla Bahşizade Kemaleddin İbrahim Efendi wrote and presented to the prince a treatise criticising his extravagance, and was nonetheless rewarded. His tutor Sururi Mustafa Efendi of Gelibolu wrote his commentary on the Gülistan in Amasya in the prince's name and completed it in 958. At the start of Ramadan 960 (1553) Mustafa left Amasya with his army and was killed in his father's tent at Akhöyük near Ereğli in Konya. The size of his army also differs in the sources: Hüsameddin speaks of forty thousand men, Demirtaş of a well-equipped force of five thousand. The prince's young son was strangled afterwards; Hüsameddin gives the child's name as Süleyman and writes that he was buried in the Şehzadegân Tomb in Amasya, while Demirtaş notes that an imperial register entry shows his name to have been Mehmed.

His brother, Prince Bayezid, was appointed to Amasya in Muharrem 965 (1557-58), according to Hüsameddin, but wanting to stay close to the throne he was reluctant to leave Kütahya. Persuaded by the vizier Pertev Paşa, whom Süleyman sent to him, he set out, was welcomed at Ankara and Çorum, and entered Amasya in a splendid procession in Rebiülevvel. His sons were given the sanjaks of Çorum, Canik and Karahisar-ı Şarki. Isolated after the death of his mother Hürrem Sultan and the defection of Rüstem Paşa to Selim's side, Bayezid saw the letters and envoys he sent to his father blocked on the way. In the spring of 966 (1559) he strengthened Amasya Castle, gathered some fifteen thousand troops and marched against his brother Selim onto the Konya plain. After his defeat, realising he could not stay in Amasya, he left the city before dawn at the start of Şevval 966 (July 1559) with his four sons and went to Iran; he was killed there in 1561. The struggle between the brothers for the throne thus began in Amasya and ended in Iran.

The Sultans on the Upper Floor

The first figure on the upper floor is Bayezid I. Relying on Kemalpaşazade, Hüsameddin presents him as the first governor the Ottoman state appointed to Amasya: proclaimed governor of Amasya in Şevval 788 (1386), the prince sent a threatening letter to Kadı Burhaneddin, left the former emir of Amasya in office and made Hasan Bey the first Ottoman castellan. Hüsameddin's sequence of events leading to the Battle of Kosovo does not fully match present-day chronologies, and Bayezid's standing as "the first governor of Amasya" is debated by researchers. His son Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) came to the city as governor in 801 (1398-99), aged thirteen; his lala Ali Paşa ran the province and Yakut Paşa guarded it. Returning to Amasya in the spring of 805 (1402-03) after the Battle of Ankara, Çelebi Mehmed made the city the centre of his rule during the years of the Interregnum and married Şehzade Hatun, a descendant of the former emirs of Amasya. He took his first steps towards reuniting the state here.

Murad II was the eldest son of Çelebi Mehmed, born and raised in Amasya. In 818 (1415-16) he came as governor together with his tutor, Şücaeddin İlyas Çelebi of Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that in the years of his arrival repeated earthquakes forced the people to live in tents for some three months, followed by famine and high prices. When his father died in 824 (1421), Murad ascended the throne while governor of Amasya, and his lala Hamza Bey was appointed beylerbey of the province.

Mehmed the Conqueror's link with Amasya is the story that draws most interest on the upper floor, but its documentation is among the most disputed. Relying on Kemalpaşazade's history, Hüsameddin writes that Mehmed, born in Edirne in 833 (1429-30), became governor of Amasya in Zilhicce 841 (1437-38), aged eight, in place of his elder brother Ahmed; his lala was Hayreddin Hızır Paşa and his teacher Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi, son of İlyas Fakih of Amasya. Kemalpaşazade's sentence "Sultan Mehmed, too, rested for a time in that blessed place" shows that the prince stayed in Amasya for a while. Halil İnalcık, however, regards this appointment as doubtful and stresses that Mehmed was sent from Edirne to Manisa in the spring of 1443. A local tradition recorded by Osman Fevzi Olcay adds a teacher's story to these years: Molla Fenari wrote to the sultan that the prince was too unruly to succeed in his studies and recommended Molla Gürani, and the sultan gave Gürani full authority, saying "the flesh is ours, the bones are yours". Olcay tells this story together with the Şehzadeler Dershanesi (Princes' School) in the Gümüşlü quarter, built by İskender Çelebi in 903 (1497), of which nothing now remains; since the school's date falls half a century after Mehmed's princely years, attaching the tradition to this building is not historically consistent.

Bayezid II's Amasya period, by contrast, is the best documented of these princely governorships. Born in 851 (1447-48), Bayezid was sent to Amasya in 858 (1454), aged seven. Kemalpaşazade writes that his father Mehmed the Conqueror sent this son, "the beloved of his heart", to Amasya, the old throne city of the Ottomans, making him ruler of the land of Rum, and praises the city as a place whose river makes the Nile envious. His first lala was Ali Paşa and his first chancellor Kemaleddin Ahmed Çelebi of Amasya. Bayezid stayed in Amasya for twenty-seven years; his son Ahmed was born there, and the mosque, madrasa, school, soup kitchen and guest-house he began in the city after his accession were completed in 891 (1486). Olcay notes that the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa was also built during his princely years. This complex, rising on the bank opposite the museum, is the greatest work that any of the upper-floor figures left to the city.

Selim I (Selim the Grim) takes his place on the upper floor as the son of Bayezid II; since he spent his princely years in Trabzon, his link with Amasya runs through the struggle for the throne he waged with his elder brother Ahmed. The last link in the line is Murad III. According to Hüsameddin he became governor of Amasya at the beginning of 974 (1566-67), after the accession of Selim II, aged twenty-one; his lala was Ferruh Bey. Because of the banditry around Sivas and Amasya he could stay in the city for only about a year and a half, and in 976 (1568-69) he was transferred to Manisa. This record is not undisputed: present-day encyclopaedia entries on Murad III's life do not mention Amasya and state that he remained in the sanjak of Saruhan from 1562 until his accession. Hüsameddin bases his information on the Camiü'd-Düvel and an imperial decree register; the contradiction cannot be resolved with present-day sources.

The Princely Tradition and the Museum's Story

To understand the museum's design, it helps to recall the sanjak system. In the Ottoman state the throne was not regarded as an inheritance passing automatically from father to eldest son; every prince was in principle eligible to rule, which made brothers both potential sovereigns and one another's rivals. For this reason, on reaching a certain age, princes were sent out to provincial sanjaks with experienced statesmen at their side. In the sanjak a prince set up his own council, gathered his secretaries and household, oversaw justice and taxation and took command of the troops. The lala at his side was at once his protector, his mentor and, in most matters, the de facto administrator; names such as Yörgüç Paşa and Bayezid Paşa are remembered among those who held this post in Amasya. Tutors were responsible for an education covering the Qur'an, jurisprudence, Arabic, Persian, literature, calligraphy and military skills.

Amasya's place in this system was also tied to its geography. The city lay on the roads leading east, towards the Iranian and Caucasian fronts, so a prince sent here was often regarded as close to the throne. From the middle of the sixteenth century the same distance began to work against it. The advantage held by the prince who could reach Istanbul fastest when a sultan died brought Manisa, close to the centre, to the fore; contemporaries had already read Prince Mustafa's transfer from Manisa to Amasya as a fall from favour. After Murad III's brief governorship Amasya lost its status as a princely sanjak, and the court register entry recording that Kızlar Sarayı stood empty after 1582 confirms this ending.

The courtiers, scholars and artists who came to the city with the princes changed the face of Amasya. The museum cannot, of course, show this broad picture in full; what it does is attach an abstract institution to twelve faces and their clothes. That is why the division between the two floors matters: when two fates that emerged from the same sanjak are set side by side, it becomes clear that the sanjak was as much a danger zone as a step towards the throne. The city where Alaeddin was strangled in his bed, where Ahmed proclaimed his sultanate and which Bayezid left before dawn is the same city where Bayezid II built his mosque complex. The museum introduces visitors in advance to the founders of the mosques, madrasas and tombs they will meet as they walk through the city.

Interior and Decoration

The first thing visitors notice is the decoration covering the walls and ceilings. Painted designs on plaster, tile panels set into the walls, ceiling medallions, and examples of calligraphy, illumination, miniature painting and marbling together display the Ottoman artistic sensibility of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. On the ceilings, hatayi and rumi patterns combine with motifs inherited from the Seljuk tradition. The carpets covering the floors are all hand-woven, knotted from wool and coloured with natural dyes. The figures' clothing was not prepared at random either. According to the guide Korkut, the kaftans, turbans and accessories were tailored specially for the museum using the Topkapı Palace collection as a model, and the carpets and painted decoration were likewise based on the arrangement of that palace.

The tile panels on the two floors carry different meanings. The panel on the lower floor is made of 150 pieces measuring 20 by 20 centimetres; cypresses of paradise set among paired rumi designs speak of the princes, most of whom died young, going to paradise. The upper-floor panel is built of 160 pieces, again 20 by 20 centimetres. The tree of life flanked by tulip motifs symbolises a universe in constant change and growth, and at the same time rootedness and a deeply rooted settlement. The two floors are thus distinguished not only by the fates of the figures but by the language of the panels as well: on the lower floor, a sign of early death; on the upper, a sign of continuity.

Interpretation and Visiting

The screens beside the statues are where the museum parts company with a conventional wax gallery. Short presentations prepared for each figure play on LCD screens, so that in a sense the statues tell their own life stories. A film of about thirty minutes on the lives of the princes and sultans is also shown, and foreign visitors can listen to it in English through headphones. Photography and filming are allowed. Promoted as an out-of-school learning environment, the museum gives students the chance to learn about the Ottoman system of government, sanjak training and the upbringing of princes through concrete examples, and for the same reason it is considered an instructive stop for families with children. A visit takes about forty minutes unless the screens and decoration are studied in detail; for anyone who wants to watch the screens to the end and look closely at the tile panels, that time stretches comfortably.

Amasya has many museums, each showing a different layer of its past. In 2019 the city's eleven museums together received close to 700,000 visitors. Among the archaeological and ethnographic collections, the museum of medical history, the museum of the War of Independence and buildings such as the Hazeranlar Mansion, the Şehzadeler Museum is the place that speaks most directly of Amasya's ties to the dynasty. In the guide Korkut's words, it is the only museum in the city devoted to the princes. Osman Varol, governor at the time, said in 2020 that some of the city's museums belonged to the municipality, some to the Special Provincial Administration and some to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and that the number of museums in Amasya reflected how much the city had to display. A visitor who leaves the museum and turns back towards the Alçak Bridge sees, in a single view, the terrace of Kızlar Sarayı above and Bayezid II's complex on the opposite bank; the figures' stories unfolded between these two points.

Chronology

1386: According to Hüsameddin, Bayezid I becomes the first governor the Ottomans appoint to Amasya.

1398-99: Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) arrives as governor of Amasya at the age of thirteen.

1415-16: Murad II, born and raised in Amasya, comes to the city as governor.

1434-35: Murad II's sons Ahmed, Alaeddin and Mehmed come to Amasya; Ahmed becomes governor.

1437-38: Prince Ahmed dies in Amasya; according to Hüsameddin, Mehmed (the Conqueror) becomes governor.

1442-43: Prince Alaeddin is strangled in Amasya.

1454: Seven-year-old Bayezid (Bayezid II) is sent to Amasya.

1481: Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II, becomes governor of Amasya.

1486: Bayezid II's mosque complex in Amasya is completed.

1494-95: Firuz Ağa, chief of the palace women's household, builds a small mosque in the Saray quarter.

1512: Prince Ahmed proclaims his sultanate in Amasya and has the palace and castle repaired.

1538-41: Prince Mustafa comes to Amasya (1538-39 according to Hüsameddin, 1541 according to Demirtaş).

1553: Prince Mustafa leaves Amasya and is killed near Ereğli in Konya.

1558: Prince Bayezid comes to Amasya.

1559: Prince Bayezid leaves Amasya for Iran.

1566-69: According to Hüsameddin, Murad III is governor of Amasya; he is then transferred to Manisa.

1582: Court registers record that Kızlar Sarayı stands empty.

1864-65: The mutasarrıf Ziya Paşa has the Palace Gate pulled down and a timber bridge built on top of the Alçak Bridge.

1880-82: The timber bridge is destroyed by flood and rebuilt with masonry piers.

1979: A council decision divides the city into seven conservation areas; the section containing the Yalıboyu houses becomes Area No. 2.

1981: Interim conservation plan decisions limit storey heights and façade openings.

1986: A registered Yalıboyu mansion is demolished by its owner.

1992: The Conservation Council envisages the continued registration of 126 civil buildings.

1994: Under the Yalıboyu Houses Conservation Project, 80 houses are registered.

1996: The Amasya Foundation for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets is established.

2007: The Amasya Governorate has the demolished mansion reconstructed faithfully to the original.

2008: The Şehzadeler Museum opens to visitors.

2009: Systematic excavations begin at Harşena Castle and Kızlar Sarayı.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Atlıhan Onat Karacalı, Amasya Yalıboyu Evlerinin Mimari Özellikleri Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme ve Bir Öneri (DergiPark) amasya.bel.tr

Official sources

  • Amasya Governorate, Şehzadeler Müzesi (amasya.gov.tr/sehzadeler-muzesi)

Other sources

  • Funda Demirtaş, "Şehzade Mustafa'nın Öldürülmesi: Tahlilî Bir Yaklaşım", Bilimname XVIII, 2010/1, pp. 205-227
  • E. Emine Naza Dönmez, "Amasya Harşena Kalesi ve Kızlar Sarayı Kazılarında Ele Geçen Altın Memluk Sikkeleri Üzerine Düşünceler", Turkish Historical Society
  • Central Black Sea Development Agency, cultural promotion booklet, Amasya section (Yalıboyu Houses, Alçak Bridge)
  • Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, Şehzadeler Müzesi
  • Türkiye Culture Portal, Özel Şehzadeler Müzesi
  • Cihan Okur, "Şehzadeler Müzesi saray hayatına ışık tutuyor", Anadolu Agency, 9 February 2016
  • Cihan Okur, "Şehzadeler şehri Amasya'nın müzeleri ilgi görüyor", Anadolu Agency, 25 February 2020
  • Out-of-School Learning Environments (EBA), Amasya Şehzadeler Müzesi

Online sources