HISTORY OF ESKİŞEHİR
From the time when the human race changed from the hunter-nomad way of life to grower-settler society i.e. from the neolithic era until the present day the territory of Eskişehir has been home to many civilations. Approximately five thosund years ago small groups of people founded their first settlements on the fertile grounds of Eskişehir. After 2000 B.C. at the time when the Hittite empire was founded in Anotolia, Eskişehir bacame a principality. In the 12 th century B.C. the Phrygians moved in from Thrace and conquered Central Anatolia where they founded a United Kingdom. Eskişehir became a prosperous commercial and cultural centre under the name of Dorylaion. Many monuments has been preserved from those days.The Phrygian rule weakened in the 6 th century and cosequently the land was taken over by Lydians, who minted the first coins thus faciliating commerce. The Lydians built and guarded the "King's Road", which ran from Sardis to Nivevch. This historic road passed near Dorylaion and helped Lydia grow, but at the same time it helped the Persians conquer the whole country in 546 B.C. The Persian rule persisted until the battle at the river of Gronikos in May 334 B. C., where Alexander the Great of Macedonia licked the hell out of the Persian generals. Alexander died in 333 B. C. After having ruled the region only for a short period of time. During the days of confusion that followed Alexander's death crowded groups of Greeks moved in to settle on the fertile land around Eskişehir, and thus began Hellenistic era. Later between the years of 190 B. C. and 395 A. D. Romans ruled Dorylaion, or Dorylaeum as the Romans called it. They used the town as a spa and as a centre of entertainment. As the Roman empire split into two, Eskişehir came under Byzantium until it was finally conqured by Selijuks in 1074. The "Kings Road" was used by Crusaders during the Cruades, which began in 1096, so that Eskişehir (Dorylaeum) became the scene of numerous battles and frequently changed hands. At this time the Arabs call the town Duruliye, while the Selijuks call it Sultanönü or Sultanhöyüğü. In 1289 Osman Bey gets hold of the town, which due to its ruinous appearence was the named "Eskişehir" meaning "Old Town". The town remained under Turkish role until the present days During World War I. Now, Eskişehir is an agricultural, conumercial and cultural center.

THE HISTORY OF TOBACCO PIPE
Since the moment people learned to light their own fire, they used both fire and smoke in many different ways. The first containers in which pleasent Samellin incense was burned the pipes used to inhale the smoke of the incense are all accepted as the forerunners of the present day tobacco pipes. With Colombus's discovery of America tobacco was smoked through utensils made of earthenware China plaster of Paris metal clay etc. Europeans who knew about tobacco smoking and who were knew about tobacco smoking and who were acquainted with pipes either incidentally or on purpose started carving meerschaum into tobacco pipes. This event marks the beginning of a new era in tobacco pipe manufacture. Its superb absorbing capasity beside being very light next to being easily carved turned meerschaum into the most precious material for the production of tobacco pipes. On the other hand meerschaum grew into an artistic expression. So much so that quite a few museums in thr world as well as collections show meerschaum pipes specially valuable objects of art This is one of the reasons the Eskişehir Meerschaum Museum was estabilished in the first place.

MEERSCHAUM CARVING
Meerschaum can easily be carved as long as it does not lose the natural moisture contained in its structure as it comes out of the mines. Requiring talent experience and patience meerschaum carving is a difficult but pleasent and rewarding handwork. All kinds of ornaments can be carved in meerschaum by specially made knives. These knives and other tools some fifty of them are usually made by the carvers themselves. Having been carved for a long time the blocks of meerschaum usually lose their natural moisture and have to be soaked in water to soften up again for further carving. The most important point in meerschaum carving is to choose the right model to fit the naturel shape of the amorphous meerschaum blocks. The carver must choose the model of the objects to be carved so as to ensure minumum waste of the material, which is very expensive. The only and most important support in deciding the model is the carver's vision and imagination. Once the block has been given the desired form it is exposed to indirect sunshine to be slowly dried. Subsequently the objects is very carefully hand sanded. When the process of sanding is finished the meerschaum objects are submerged into whitened and heated beeswax for a couple of minutes. The final polishing is done by hand applying very soft cloth, that will leave no marks. The washing and polishing treatment will give the finished meerschaum object a white to creamy colour.

MEERSCHAUM
Meerschaum has been formed through hydration of magnesium and silicon based rock debris in alteration 'layers at various depths in the Earth's crust by hydrothermal effects. Microscopie erystals in the structure of meerschaum are irregularly arranged. Meerschaum has a very fine, soft and prous texture, and is of a white or various shades of white, or creamy colour. Because of the reactions leading to its formation, all meerschaum types occur as hydrous minerals. It is this naturel moisture held by its porous structure that ensures cleanliness of the mineral white embeded in the earth and ease of working after having been mined. Dried immediately, or after having been worked. Meerschaum gets lighter in eight in proportion to the moisture lost and gains significant consistency. Alteration lavers with interspresed meerschaum nodels occur between the surface and depths over 300 meters below the surface in the west, in the north-west below the surface in the west, in the north-west, and in the south of Eskişehir, the provincial capital of the province of the same name, in order to extract meerschaum blocks, vertical shafts are driven into the earth. When alteration layers, which are easily distinguished in the soil, are reached, adits are cut in search of meerschaum nodules. In some regions, meerschaum layers are at levels below the ground water table. In order to extract meerschaum in such places it will be necessarily to pump out the water first. Manual power, personel experience gained through years, and instinct are benefited from to a great extention meerschaum mining. Eskişehir and its surroundings have always had extremely favourable natural conditions for the settlement of people since the earliest times in history. During archacological researches conducted in order to shed light on this distance past, it has been established, that people knew meerschaum 5000 years ago and used it with for various purposes in the course of time. However meerschaum became popular throughout the world with the spreading of tobacco-smoking. Very light and porous meerschaum absorbs great amounts of moisture or gas when subjected to them after having been dried, and retains residues in the moisture or gas and holds them in its texture. Due to this basic property, meerschaum is a raw material very suitable for carving tobacco pipes and as an absorbent, for filters, for insulation, and as filling material in industry. Having been used for approximately 300 years in the manufacture of the most expensive pipes in the world, meerschaum has become indispensable auxiliary raw material in inustry in parallel with the progress made in techonology. At the beginning all of raw meerschaum mined was exported to Europe and was worked there. At present exportation raw meerschasum is restricted and measures have been taken to assure the working of all raw meerschaum by artisans from Eskişehir trained during the Republic era. Due to it is fine elegant structure it is not used in the production of smoking articles only, anymore. It is nowadays been used for manufacture of new objects of great utility and esthetic value.