Northeast of the centre, just off the road to Ani, the city museum has cultural and archaeological exhibits stretching back to the early Bronze Age, Urartu and Roman periods. Labels and overview texts have English translations but, for all the collection's riches, the presentation is rather static.
Kars Museum
Kars
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
25.29 MILES
The ruins of Ani, 45km east of Kars, are an absolute must-see. Visitors enter through gigantic fortress walls that look like they fell off a crusader…
25.73 MILES
Appealingly sited overlooking a stretch of river gorge, this 13th-century church appears relatively intact, though the current main door is within what…
1.11 MILES
Dating from at least 1153, Kars Castle' s hefty, dark-stone walls crown the craggy ridge that dominates the city-centre's northern edge, fronted by a…
25.43 MILES
Completed in 1010, the grassy-roofed cathedral is the largest building among the Ani ruins. The building's elegantly finished stone walls are relatively…
25.31 MILES
Ani's 1072 Manuçehr Camii was built by the Seljuk Turks, using Armenian architects and artisans, creating a stylistic blend in what is considered to have…
24.89 MILES
The cliffs and valleys all around the Ani plateau are riddled with hundreds of caves that guides have collectively dubbed Ani's 'Underground City'. Mostly…
Kafkaz Cephesi Harp Tarihi Müzesi
1.66 MILES
This new museum specialising in early 20th-century history is hosted in the heavy arches of an 1803 bastion, a surviving fragment of vast ramparts that…
25.22 MILES
Covering the large rocky eminence at the southern point of the Ani plateau, İç Kale is a jumble of tumbled stone, with faint vestiges of ancient palaces…
Nearby Kars attractions
1. Kars Culture & Art Association
0.81 MILES
The address is an unpromising paint shop ('Yeni Akçay Kol. Şir.'). However, if you can find him in, the shop's owner is local historian Vedat Akçayöz who…
0.97 MILES
In 1579, Sultan Murad III's regional governor (Lala Mustafa Paşa) built an imposing palace on the southern foreslopes of Kars Castle crag. The structure…
0.97 MILES
For a great vantage point to soak up the main sights of historic Kars in a single visual sweep, it's hard to beat the forecourt of this 17th-century…
4. Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa Kultur Evi
0.97 MILES
One of Kars' most attractive old homes hosts a beautifully presented but all-in-Turkish introduction to Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Paşa, a flamboyantly…
0.99 MILES
With an especially attractive north facade, the 16th-century 'Mosque of Saints' was built to commemmorate the 11th-century saint Hasan-i Harakani who…
1 MILES
Below Kars Castle, the imposing, basalt Kümbet Camii was built as a church between 932 and 937 when Kars was (briefly) capital of the Bagratuni kingdom of…
1.03 MILES
This active mosque started life as a 19th-century Russian church, but now sports twin minarets instead of its original onion domes. It's a curious if…
1.06 MILES
A three-storey late 19th-century L-shaped building with a long, false-columned facade, this is one of the more impressive pieces of Kars' 'Baltic…