A barren hilltop in a remote, impoverished backwater is hardly a place one would expect to find a flourishing museum with growing international acclaim. For the Baksi Museum in eastern Turkey, however, being in the middle of nowhere is inherent to its existence and the many roles it has taken on. The brainchild of prominent Turkish artist Husamettin Kocan, the museum is Kocan’s tribute to his native village, which, since its inception as a “crazy” idea three decades ago, has evolved into a vibrant cultural center and a social project injecting life into one of Turkey’s poorest provinces.

Baksi is the old name of the village of Bayraktar in Bayburt province, nestled high in the Anatolian steppe, not far from the eastern Black Sea coast and 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from Istanbul and 900 kilometers (560 miles) from Ankara.

The Baksi Museum was inaugurated in 2010 as the product of a decadelong, painstaking work by Kocan and his wife, Oya, with the support of art enthusiasts and at a cost of about $10 million. Since then, it has continued to expand with new contributions.

Kocan came up with the idea on a winter's day in 1987 when he traveled to his native village for the funeral of his father. Much to his chagrin, he discovered that the village’s “mansion” — a place where the locals gathered to socialize, discuss politics, recount old stories, and recite folk poetry and songs — had shut down. “The people had retreated to their homes and the bonds between them had weakened. The place used to be like a cultural center, so we decided to build it anew,” Kocan told Al-Monitor.