Namazgah Battery Museum

About

Namazgah Battery Museum, in the Eceabat district of Çanakkale, is set up in the central bunker (bonet) of the Namazgah Battery, a fortification used during the Gallipoli Campaign. The name is said to come either from the battery's outline, which resembles the open-air prayer places (namazgah) of Islamic architecture, or from soldiers praying here together during the war. The battery has 26 bunkers of different sizes that served various purposes. At the entrance stands a model of the battery at 1:100 scale. Display cases hold fragments found in excavations during restoration, archive photographs, drawings and wartime objects, and information panels describe what happened at the battery on 18 March 1915 and afterwards. The audiovisual room screens the documentary "Reflections from the Depths" about dives to sunken British and French warships. A visitor-activated reconstruction recreates part of the communication between the Namazgah, Hamidiye and Mecidiye batteries on 18 March. A ruined section under glass shows the damage caused by a shell fired from a warship.