Ferit Akalın Radio and Communications Museum from Cankırı

Ferit Akalın Radio and Communication Museum – Çankırı

Located in Karataş District, the Ferit Akalın Radio and Communication Museum is housed in Sarıkadı Mansion, a restored historic Çankırı home. The museum is built upon the unique legacy of Ferit Akalın, a local inventor whose passion for radio technology left a remarkable mark on the city’s communication history.

A Museum Born from a Local Inventor’s Legacy

The museum’s core collection consists of the radio archive donated by Ferit Akalın, along with years of accumulated oral history recordings, documentary footage, and national archival research. Akalın’s pioneering work—such as setting up Çankırı’s first television antennas and experimenting with remote-controlled vehicles powered by radio signals—has been documented and preserved through the museum.

In 2016, following Akalın’s donation of his radio collection, the municipality restored Sarıkadı Mansion and transformed it into the Radio and Communication House. Additional printed and oral archives gathered by the municipality and the Dr. Rıfkı Urga Çankırı Studies Center further enriched the museum content.

Purpose and Vision

The museum aims to narrate the historical evolution of communication technologies through human stories, emphasizing Çankırı’s local identity while situating it within the broader context of world and Turkish communication history.

With its immersive and interactive design, the museum welcomes visitors into a lively, workshop-like environment. Here, visitors don’t just observe communication tools—they use them:

• Broadcast a radio program
• Write and send letters or postcards
• Experience historic and modern communication devices
• Interact with hands-on installations and experiments

Museum Structure

The Ferit Akalın Radio and Communication House is organized into three main sections:

A. Exhibition Areas

Ground Floor

• Entrance, reception, and information area
• History of the building and restoration process
• “A Brief History of Communication” animation
• Radio collection displays
• Communication chronology
• Communication tools through history
• Installations:
• Drum installation
• Printing press installation
• Paper-making displays
• Camera Obscura installation
• Printing plate installation
• Documentary screenings:
• History of Communication
• Journey of Paper
• History of the Printing Press
• Bird Language Documentary

First Floor

• Ferit Akalın Room
• Documentary: Ferit Akalın and the History of Radio in Türkiye
• Radio and communication collections
• History of telephone and postal services:
• Telephone history animation
• Postal workers documentary
• Typewriter and postcard writing station
• Mirror experience
• Oral history interviews: “Stories from the People of Çankırı”
• Documentaries:
• History of Television
• Çankırı Dialects
• History of computers:
• “From Cables to Wireless Networks”
• People Staring at Their Watches film
• Regional dialect audio recordings
• Telegraph experience installation
• Museum radio station broadcasting point
• Simatic installation
• Acoustic sound experience room
• Heliograph experience
• Theremin experience
• Documentary: Communication in Nature
• Additional collection displays

B. Service Areas

Basement

• Internet and library area
• Cafeteria
• Garden
• Restrooms

Ground Floor

• Workshop area
• Restrooms

First Floor

• Restrooms

Attic

• Storage