Established in 1954 in France, Relais & Châteaux tasked itself with a mission of spreading luxury and individuality across the globe. Today, Relais & Châteaux’s prestigious network encompasses 500 exceptional luxury hotels and gourmet restaurants, spread across 60 countries on 5 continents.
Only hotels and restaurants with a special character, a luxurious and boutique style, and high quality gourmet dishes and wines are selected to become members. Exceedingly high standards are the primary requirement of Relais & Châteaux.
MUSEUM HOTEL and RELAIS & CHÂTEAUX
Museum Hotel, one of the finest and most unique hotels, is proud to be the only hotel in Turkey invited to join the Relais & Châteaux family, thanks to its distinctive characteristics, art and antiques concept, traditional décor, and exquisite cuisine. To be chosen from numerous applicants is a great honor.
Unlike typical hotel affiliates, membership to Relais & Châteaux is not a monetary thing. To join this special family of hoteliers and chefs, members must possess distinctive characteristics and facilities that differentiate them from typical chain hotels. The standard of service is of utmost importance. Then, Relais & Châteaux requires exceptional service and quality of the restaurant. With award-winning chefs, wines produced by the hotel itself, exceptional restaurant service, Museum Hotel is an outstanding luxury boutique hotel.
The Relais & Châteaux family, which began with French châteaux (castles) over 50 years ago, continues today with a cave boutique hotel from Cappadocia, Museum Hotel. Besides its artistic nature, the hotel’s unique museum concept and thousand-year-old caves make Museum Hotel an important addition to Relais & Châteaux.
History
The special area where Museum Hotel is located consists of many cave and stone houses that are thousands of years old. It is known that Hittites, Persians, and early Christian Romans lived in the now carefully restored caves belonging to Museum Hotel, such as the historical Uchisar Castle. In the Seljuk period, people began to live in houses made from the area’s yellow stones, shaped and sculpted by hand. Today, some of these stone houses now form the hotel’s Reception, the Taskosk Suite, the Eflatun Suite, and the restaurant (Lil’a)
Where Museum Hotel is now located, it is known that the last inhabitants of the area were from the Tekeli clan, after which the district is named. The Tekeli clan was a famous nomadic Turkmen clan who brought to the region the renowned horse breed known as Akhal-Teke. It would seem certain that that Cappadocia, known in those times as the “Land of Beautiful Horses”, must have been extremely welcoming for the members of the Tekeli clan.
These rare caves and stone houses were used for many purposes, like accommodation, stalls, depots, and kitchens by the Hittites, Persians, Romans, Seljuks, and Ottomans, and now serve as a living museum as part of Museum Hotel’s activities.
