10 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The Old Fisherman Founded the Turkish Sea Creatures Museum

The sea gives another life to man, sometimes love, sometimes a disappointment, often a longing. The sea is reminiscent of a fairy tale. A tale of the undiscovered and magical a tale.

A Turkish fisherman in Istanbul recently founded a museum of sea creatures with 15,000 mummified items to inspire children.

Kenan Balcı was born in 1956 in the Arpaçay district of northeastern Kars province. His passion for sea and fish never left him alone. Now the room wants to pass on this passion to future generations.

Balcı established the Turkish Sea Creatures Museum, where he exhibits more than 15,000 sea creatures in the Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul, with students showing great interest in his works.

Balcı, known as fisherman Kenan, spent his childhood fishing in a stream with a fishing line he made using his mother’s quilting needle and thread.

Kenan balcı
Kenan Balcı founded the Turkish Sea Creatures Museum. Photo: AA

“I used to take it without telling my mother. I heated that needle in the shape of a fishing line, and was fishing with the quilting needle and thread,” he said.

“As a 10-year-old child, I could catch 2-3 kilograms (4.4-6.6 pounds) of fish,” Balcı told Anadolu Agency (AA).

His passion for fish started in those early years and Balcı got acquainted with the sea and the Bosporus in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul when his family moved there in 1969.

Insisting on becoming a fisherman despite his family’s objections, Balcı used to rush to the shore after school to fish and make friends with other fishermen in the historical Kadıköy district, where they first settled.

Thornback ray, Turkish Sea Creatures Museum, İstanbul, Turkey. Photo: AA
Thornback ray, Turkish Sea Creatures Museum, İstanbul, Turkey. Photo: AA

His mother used to complain every day as his school uniform smelled of fish, he said, “But I still continued to go fishing every day.” He did not want to continue studying after elementary school and wanted to become a fisherman.

After heeding his father’s advice and trying jobs in different fields, Balcı was finally able to persuade his family to open a fish store and he started to cure fish with salt and mummify them with special mixtures.

Today, Balcı has a massive collection of mummified sea creatures, which he wants to use to instill a love for the sea and fish in the hearts of the next generation.

“I am 65 years old. I have enough of everything, but not the sea or fish,” Balcı cracked a smile.

Cover Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Related Articles

The mythical hero of Troy and Rome Aeneas’s peerless mosaic discovered in Türkiye

11 May 2023

11 May 2023

A large mosaic depicting the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid” and the ancestor...

A 3300-year-old seal and a dagger/sword reminiscent of Mycenaean swords were discovered in the Heart of western Anatolia

18 July 2022

18 July 2022

A unique 3300-year-old seal and a sword/dagger reminiscent of Mycenaean swords were unearthed during the excavations of Tavşanlı Höyük (Tavşanlı...

Mine-clearance divers discovered an ancient shipwreck dating from the 3rd century BC

25 June 2023

25 June 2023

As a result of collaborative training exercises between Croatian and Italian naval mine-clearance divers, one of the earliest fully preserved...

New Discoveries on the İsland of Skokholm

29 March 2021

29 March 2021

New discoveries dating back 9000 years have been found in Skokholm, located in the Celtic Sea two miles off the...

Stone Age Loved to Dance to the Rhythm of the Elk Tooth Rattles

4 June 2021

4 June 2021

Thousands of years ago, people danced frequently and to the rhythm. This is the conclusion of the discovery of elk...

In Turkey’s Gedikkaya Cave, a stone figurine was discovered inside a 16,500-year-old votive pit

17 December 2022

17 December 2022

A stone figurine was discovered in a 16500-year-old votive pit belonging to the Epi-paleolithic period, the transition phase from the...

The 4,500-year-old Wisconsin canoe was built around the same time that Stonehenge was being constructed

31 May 2024

31 May 2024

Historians from Wisconsin have reported the amazing finding of at least eleven prehistoric canoes in Lake Mendota, which is close...

A rare Roman cornu mouthpiece found at Vindolanda

23 September 2022

23 September 2022

Just south of Hadrian’s Wall, archaeologists have discovered an extremely rare Roman cornu mouthpiece beneath the remains of the ancient...

An Unusual Artifact Points to Roman Britain Rituals Linked to Fertility, Painted Dog Penis Bone Found in England

9 January 2025

9 January 2025

In a Roman quarry shaft in Surrey, England, archaeologists have discovered one of the most unusual human and animal remains...

What Did Mummies Smell Like in Ancient Egypt? The Surprisingly Pleasant Results Revealed

1 April 2025

1 April 2025

A groundbreaking study led by researchers from University College London’s Institute for Sustainable Heritage and the University of Ljubljana has...

5,000 years old Mother Goddess statuette unearthed in Yeşilova Mound

25 October 2023

25 October 2023

A Mother Goddess statuette, determined to be 5 thousand years old, was found during the excavations carried out in the...

12,000-year-old ‘public building’ unearthed in southeastern Turkey’s Mardin

27 September 2022

27 September 2022

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a “public building” thought to be 12,000 years old at Boncuklu Tarla in the...

Unique tombs wrapped in high-quality fabrics and painted bodies were discovered at monumental temple in Peru

11 March 2023

11 March 2023

Unique tombs wrapped in high-quality fabrics and painted bodies were discovered at the monumental temple in Peru. Located on the...

A rare statue of K’awiil, Mayan god of Lighting have uncovered in Mexico

1 May 2023

1 May 2023

In southeastern Mexico, archaeologists uncovered a rare sculpture of a powerful Mayan god near the path of a large-scale rail...

The Discovery of a Historic Wooden Shipwreck in the North Sea

27 January 2025

27 January 2025

A section of a wooden shipwreck was uncovered near Rantum, a coastal village located on the island of Sylt in...