Adana Archaeology Museum

The Adana Archaeology Museum (Turkish: Adana Arkeoloji Müzesi) is one of the oldest archaeological museums in Turkey, preserving the historical heritage of Cilicia in the city of Adana, Adana Province. Founded in 1924 shortly after the proclamation of the Republic, the museum has occupied several sites across the city before moving in 2017 to its current location in the restored former Simyonoglu textile factory in the Döşeme neighborhood of Seyhan district. Its collections span from prehistoric times through the Ottoman period, with particular strengths in Hittite, Roman, and Byzantine material from regional excavations.

The museum's origins trace to 1919 during the French occupation of Cilicia, when a collection was assembled from objects gathered by local civilians and French military personnel, supplemented by antiquities transferred from Silifke under an agreement with the Imperial Museum in Constantinople. In 1924, the year of the Republic's founding, Alyanakzade Halil Kamil Bey was appointed director and the collection was moved in 1928 to the medrese of the Cafer Pasha Mosque near Taşköprü, where it opened to the public. The museum relocated in 1950 to the former Greek Orthodox Church at Kuruköprü, which also served as an Ethnography Museum. Under director Ali Rıza Yalman (Yalkın), the collections expanded significantly through purchases and court-ordered acquisitions from a region stretching from Kahramanmaraş to Gaziantep. On 5 January 1972, the museum opened in a purpose-built structure at the intersection of the E5 state road and Fuzuli Street on the west bank of the Seyhan River. By the early 2010s, conservation and space needs prompted the Adana Museum Complex project. The former Simyonoglu textile plant, built in 1906 by Aristidi Simyonoglu and later known as Milli Mensucat, was selected for restoration. Construction began in 2013, and the Archaeology Museum opened in the complex on 18 May 2017.

The museum holds more than 17,000 archaeological objects and 26,500 coins, organized across eight exhibition halls and additional spaces for sarcophagi, excavation finds, coins, and mosaics. The chronological range extends from the Neolithic through the Ottoman period, with dedicated rooms for Prehistoric and Bronze Age material (A1), Iron Age including Late Hittite works (A2), Classical and Hellenistic periods (A3), and Roman-era sculpture and busts (A4-A6). Room A7 covers Byzantine to Islamic material, while room A0 is reserved for sarcophagi and grave stelae. The collections derive from major regional excavations including Tarsus/Gözlükule (1934), Mersin/Yumuktepe (1936), Ceyhan/Sirkeli (1938), and Yüreğir/Misis (1958), as well as from sites such as Karatepe, Soğuksutepe, and others across Çukurova. The Karatepe-Arslantaş open-air museum is administratively affiliated with the institution.

Among the museum's signature works is the eighth-century BCE statue of the Hittite Storm God Tarhunda, a monumental limestone figure with basalt bulls and chariot bearing an inscription translated as "I am the God of Adana," which links divine authority to the ancient name of the city. The Çineköy statue, depicting Tarhu (the Luwian storm god), carries the Royal Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription of significant linguistic importance. The museum also preserves the only known inscription mentioning Apollonius of Tyana, dated to the 3rd-4th century CE. Roman-period highlights include the Achilles sarcophagus from Tarsus, with high-relief scenes of the Trojan War, and a sarcophagus carved with Medusa from ancient Augusta, rescued from the area now submerged beneath the Seyhan Dam Reservoir. A life-sized bronze male statue recovered from the sea off Karataş represents the ancient city of Magarsus. Other significant pieces include the Babylonian Stele, the Anatolian Hieroglyphic Inscribed Stele, and numerous Late Hittite stelae from sites including Hacıbebekli, Maraş, İslahiye, Söğütlü, Pancarlı, Yumurtalık, and Çağdın.

The museum's current home is the restored Milli Mensucat Factory in the Reşatbey/Döşeme area of Seyhan district. The complex was founded in 1906 by Aristidi Kozma Simyonoglu as the largest manufacturing plant in the region, originally opened in 1907 as the "Simyonoğlu Factory" and renamed "Milli Factory" in 1924. After acquisition by businessmen Mustafa Özgür, Nuri Has, and Seyit Tekin in 1927, it became nationally known for its "Aslan" branded yarn; Hacı Ömer Sabancı joined as partner in 1944. The factory was notable for progressive worker benefits including daily hot meals, housing, and healthcare facilities. It also entered Turkish literary history as the workplace of novelist Orhan Kemal, who drew upon his experiences there for his novel Bekçi Murtaza. State-owned from 1978 and later operating as Milsan Mensucat from 1983, the building was restored beginning in 2013 as a registered immovable cultural asset. The Adana Museum Complex now encompasses the Archaeology Museum, Mosaic Museum, City Museum, Agriculture Museum, Industry Museum, Literature Museum, and Milli Mensucat Museum, with children's workshops, a theatre, and a conference hall in active use.

The Adana Archaeology Museum is located at 60064 Sokak No:10 in the Reşatbey/Döşeme neighborhood of Seyhan district, Adana. It operates as part of the Adana Museum Complex, a state-run cultural campus under the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The museum is open daily with standard hours typically from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Admission is paid, with the complex serving tourists, families, and researchers. The relocation to the restored industrial site has allowed many objects formerly displayed in the open-air garden of the previous museum to be moved indoors and protected from the elements, while the expanded facilities accommodate the full chronological range of Cilician heritage from prehistory to the present.