Van Archeology and Ethnography Museum — Attraction in İpekyolu

The museum itself is big and has some incredible artifacts. It's definitely worth a visit. BUT! Make sure that you avoid it on the weekends! We went on the weekend which was a huge mistake. For whatever reason the locals treat this place as a social gathering location where they can go with their numerous and super loud offsprings. There were many families with a lot of children and nobody tried to make them be quiet and stop running around. It was like being in a zoo... Kids running around, screaming, shouting, and the parents in groups were casually walking around, talking loudly, talking on the phone in front of interesting displays, seemingly not caring at all about the artifacts or the texts. There were only a few visitors who actually seemed interested in what was on display. On top of this the main lights were off, only (most of) the artifacts were lit up. But it was impossible to read the explanation texts on the walls. We asked the ticket seller person if they could maybe switch the lights on but he said no, they were broken, and he obviously couldn't have cared less. So we ended up using the torches on our phones and a headlight to try to figure out what was exactly going on, from where and what time... There were no windows, no natural light, and certainly no air, so I came out with a huge headache. What a pity because they have super interesting artifacts. But this was the most frustrating museum visits of my entire existence. If it was possible I would give 5 stars for the artifacts but 1 for the...

A visit to this museum is very dissapointing: it looks like the staff feels ashamed to show the incredible impressive long history and the artefacts of Van. How: First of all, on the outside of the museum there is no clear sign it's a museum and also not what kind of museum. Maintenance of the outside is very bad, nothing sophisticated to indicate this is a representation for the inside. No neat gardens, no water to give life to plants. No trees to sit and relax in the shadow. Then: the inside: Nobody speaks English at the information/ticket desk. They don't try to understand you, instead do on 'wildguessing' what you ask and answer on their own wrong assumption. And the exhibition? Half of the museum text were completely in the dark! No light on the texts. What? Why you spent so much money on a museum building to let the visitor completely in the dark and not able to read the text? The staff and directors must be incompetent on how to promote a good exhibition. Or they get orders to not make it too interesting for visitors? There were a few nice video's, well shot. But: the bench you expect to sit on? To take your time to watch and listen carefull? Was not there, but at a totally diffferent place. So you had to stand? Why does that makes sense? It looks like this disgraceful way to exhibit the enorm interesting history of Van, is intended to be a shamefull experience for the people of Van and for foreign visitors. So that you never want to come back. Keep us in the...

Very nice museum with an impressive section about the Urartu empire – I spent around 2 hours there and it was a productive visit. However, the lighting is poor and in many rooms you need a flashlight to see the exhibits. The museum dedicates only a very small space to Armenian cultural heritage, even though Armenians lived in this region for millennia. The tragic events of 1915–1917, during which about 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives, are almost entirely omitted. Instead, the narrative presented tends to place the blame on Armenians themselves, which I found disappointing. A more balanced approach including all communities that lived here would make this museum much stronger and more respectful of the region’s...