Librarian with the Donkey Monument

This monument in front of a public library in Ürgüp, Cappadocia, is dedicated to a librarian who used a donkey to deliver books.

Mustafa Güzelgöz became the caretaker at the Tahsin Ağa Library in his hometown of Ürgüp in the 1940s, when he was just 23 years old. He was a successful in taking care of the library, but it wasn’t attracting many visitors. Güzelgöz decided that if the people didn’t come to the library, the library would have to come to them.

He created a traveling library, loading books into wooden crates and carrying them on the back of his donkey. He could carry up to 200 books at a time, and brought them around the villages surrounding Ürgüp. Over time, he became known as”the librarian with the donkey.”

Güzelgöz died in 2005. His former home has been turned into a museum, and this monument was erected in front of Ürgüp’s public library building in his honor.