Avanos Hair Museum in Cappadocia, Turkey is one of the most bizarre museums on this planet. As the name indicates, this is a museum for hair. The story of Avanos Hair Museum is dated back to 1979. Once, a French lady visited Turkey. She was just another person among many tourists who visited Turkey to see the splendid scenic beauty of the land. But, she was not someone to return immediately after the tour. And the reason was her meeting with a young man named Galip Belukcu.
She met Galip at the rock carving pottery workshop in Cappadocia. Their meeting turned into friendship and love. They were in deep love in three months’ time. Finally, the day came for the French lady to bid farewell. With moistened eyes, Galip asked the lady what she would offer as a keepsake. Her response was extraordinary. She cut her beautiful hair and gifted it to Galip. “Remember me whenever you see my hair” she said.
When she left for France, he hung the hair on the workshop wall. Later, when people came to visit the workshop, they enquired Galip about the story behind the hair hung on the wall and he narrated the story to each one of them. Every lady, who was astonished and captivated by the story, began to hang their hair on the wall. Gradually a hair museum was formed at that spot.
The museum was founded in 1979. Galip was the founder and owner of the museum. Today, in this cave-shaped museum, there are around 16,000 women’s hair preserved. The museum entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1998.
