Çorum Archaeological Museum

Çorum Archaeological Museum is an archaeological museum located in Çorum, the provincial capital of Çorum Province in northern Turkey. Formally established in 1968, the museum houses material from major regional sites including Alacahöyük, Boğazköy (Hattuša), Ortaköy, Eskiyapar, Pazarlı, Kuşsaray, and Alişar Höyük. It serves as the central institution for the preservation and display of finds from one of Anatolia's most significant archaeological regions, spanning from the Chalcolithic period through the Ottoman era. The museum also incorporates two local branch museums at Alacahöyük and Boğazkale (Hattuša).

The museum was formally established on 13 October 1968, originally located at Müze Sokak No. 1 in Çorum. It was created to consolidate and display archaeological material from excavations in the surrounding region, which includes some of the most important Hittite sites in Anatolia. The museum's history is intertwined with two local branch institutions: the museum at Alacahöyük, founded in 1940, and the museum at Boğazkale (Hattuša), opened on 12 September 1966. In 2000, the Çorum museum relocated to its present building. This structure, originally constructed in 1914 as a hospital, had subsequently served as an agricultural school, health school, commercial school, technical school, and Atatürk High School. Built in the late 19th-century style and protected as a historic monument, the building was destroyed by fire in 1988. After restoration, it was reopened as the museum on 11 March 2003. Önder İpek has served as director since 2006.

The museum's collection encompasses four principal areas of display, amounting to 12,337 pieces by 1997. The holdings span from the Chalcolithic period through the Bronze Age, Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman eras. The ground floor and first floor concentrate on the earliest periods, while upper floors contain later material. An ethnographic section is also present on the ground floor. The museum employs interactive, touch-sensitive screens to present additional information and alternative views of objects. Since 2022, the collection has included the bracelet of Çitli, found in that village, which represents one of the rare examples of Hittite jewellery.

The museum's most significant holdings derive from the Hittite period and related Bronze Age cultures. The ground floor features a reconstruction of a Hattian princely grave, along with metal standards, statuettes, and ceramics from Alacahöyük. The early Hittite vase from Hüseyindede, decorated with coloured reliefs, depicts scenes including a sacrifice before a deity, a procession, and bull-leaping performances. Cuneiform tablets, bullae, and relief vessels from Hattuša are displayed, including a notable bronze sword with a cuneiform inscription of Tudhaliya II. Material from Šapinuwa, including weapons, ceramics, and jewellery, occupies the ground and first floors. The museum also holds artefacts from the Assyrian trading colonies (karum) period. Phrygian-period finds from Eskiyapar, Pazarlı, and Mecitözü are presented on the second floor, alongside Roman and Byzantine material from various regional sites. Notable among the later objects is a Roman sundial. The ethnographic collection includes Seljuk and Ottoman rugs, jewellery, clothing, weapons, manuscripts, and wood and metal objects. The garden contains a fountain with a bull statue.

The museum occupies a building at the western entrance to Çorum on Cengiz Topel Caddesi. Constructed in 1914 in the late 19th-century architectural style, the structure is protected as a historic monument. Its previous incarnations as a hospital and various educational institutions reflect the adaptive reuse of public architecture in Republican Turkey. The building's destruction by fire in 1988 and subsequent restoration exemplify the challenges of preserving historic structures repurposed for cultural use.

Çorum Archaeological Museum is located in Çorum city, the capital of Çorum Province in northern Turkey. The museum is accessible via Cengiz Topel Caddesi at the western entrance to the city. It operates as a state institution under the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with its website hosted at yesilirmakbasinmuseums.org.tr/corum/mn1.html. The museum is also listed on the official Turkish museum portal muze.gov.tr. A virtual visit option is available. The museum's current role combines the display of regional archaeological material with educational functions through its interactive presentation technology, serving both researchers and the general public interested in the archaeology of central Anatolia.