ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS MUSEUM ANKARA | HITTITE | URARTU | BYZANTINE | SELJUK | OTTOMAN

  Anatolian Civilizations Museum

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi in turkish) is one of the most important museums in Turkey. It is located on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazari area and occupies two Ottoman buildings, which have been renovated; one of them is the Mahmut Pasha Bedesten and the other is the Kurshunlu Han.

The Museum was built by the prime minister of Fatih Sultan Mehmed during 1464-1471. The museum holds artifacts from up to 7500 years, from the Assyrian, Phrygian, Urartian, and other Anatolian civilizations, and a unique collection of Hittities artifacts.

Within the Museum the Kursunlu Han is used as an administrative building, housing the work rooms, library, conference hall, laboratory and workshop, while the Mahmut Pasha Bedesten holds the exhibits.

There are collections of the Paleolithic era, and continue chronologically through the Neolithic, Early Bronze, Assyrian trading colonies, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartu, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Are displayed also an extensive collection of artifacts from the excavations at Karain, Çatalhöyük, Hacilar, Canhasan, Beyce Sultan, Alacahöyük, Kültepe, Acemhöyük, Bogazköy (Gordion), Pazarli, Altintepe, Adilcevaz and Patnos as well as examples of several periods.

There are exhibits of gold, silver, glass, marble and bronze works dating back as far as the second half of the first millennium BC.