Kengo Kuma's timber stack
Crossing boxes of pine planks echo the Ottoman houses of Odunpazarı and the wood market that gave the quarter its name.
Honacan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kadı Kadı — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Murat Özsoy 1958 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Murat Özsoy 1958 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Odunpazarı means 'wood market', and when the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma was asked to design a museum on the quarter's edge he did not overthink the brief: he stacked boxes of pine planks one on top of another at crossing angles, so that from the street the building reads like a carpenter's neat pile of lumber and from inside like an Ottoman timber house that has suddenly grown to three storeys. It opened on 7 September 2019, funded by Erol Tabanca, an Eskişehir-born architect and collector, and within a few years it had become one of the most photographed modern structures in the city. Plenty of people pose in front of it and never go in. Inside, roughly 4,500 square metres spread over three floors around a central void where daylight drops onto a timber staircase that is, frankly, the best single thing in the visit. The shows change about once a year: one large exhibition drawn from the Tabanca collection of Turkish and international contemporary art, padded out with loans from abroad, plus a permanent woven-bamboo installation by the Japanese master Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, made for this exact spot and almost dissolving into the wooden walls. Do not expect endless galleries; the rooms are modest, and an hour to ninety minutes covers everything including a coffee in the museum café. Admission is 200 TL for adults and 150 TL for students over twelve, teachers and visitors over 65; under-12s and disabled visitors with a companion enter free. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday 11:00 to 18:00, closed Monday, and ticket sales stop half an hour before closing. Watch for the gap between exhibitions: in 2026 the museum shuts from 14 to 25 September and reopens on 26 September with 'Echoes of the Earth', which runs until 12 September 2027. No booking is needed and tickets are sold at the door; only groups of twenty or more are asked to contact the museum in advance. Is it worth travelling to Eskişehir for on its own? No. But it is the ideal first stop on a walk through Odunpazarı, with its cobbled lanes, painted Ottoman houses and the Kurşunlu complex all a few minutes away on foot. The building is modern, with a lift to every floor, so pushchairs and wheelchairs are no trouble, and children tend to find the bamboo and the timber more entertaining than the paintings. Eskişehir sits on the high-speed rail line, about an hour and a half from Ankara and two and a half to three hours from Istanbul, which makes it a comfortable day trip, and its summer is noticeably milder than the coast.
Crossing boxes of pine planks echo the Ottoman houses of Odunpazarı and the wood market that gave the quarter its name.
Daylight falls from above onto a timber stair linking the three floors, the best photograph inside the building.
A permanent woven-bamboo installation made for this museum, worth a few quiet minutes before the year's main exhibition.
Atatürk Bulvarı No. 37, Şarkiye Mahallesi, Odunpazarı
Yılmaz Büyükerşen Wax MuseumSome 229 wax figures by the municipality's count, every one of them sculpted by 1 minute walk4.5
Contemporary Glass Art MuseumA hundred and twenty-five pieces of blown and cold-worked glass fill three rooms1 minute walk4.4
Eskişehir Meerschaum MuseumA soft white stone that comes out of the ground in high-grade blocks almost nowh4 minutes walk4.3
Odunpazarı Historic DistrictBefore Eskişehir became a city of students, trams and riverside cafés, all of it4 minutes walk4.6
Kurşunlu Mosque and ComplexEskişehir is a city of universities, trams and cafés, and it has strikingly litt4 minutes walk4.8If contemporary art is not your thing, the facade and the timber interior are the main event, and a photo from outside plus a wander through the quarter may be enough. If you do go in, an hour covers the year's exhibition and the bamboo installation, and 200 TL is not a steep price.
Yes; the building is modern with a lift, under-12s enter free, and there is a café and shop attached. The galleries are small, though, so do not promise a full day; make it an hour before the lanes of Odunpazarı.