Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Turkish: Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi) is the most important archaeological museum in Turkey, located in the Atpazarı district on the south side of Ankara Castle in Ankara, Turkey. Founded in 1921 and developed into its present form between 1938 and 1968, it houses comprehensive collections spanning from the Paleolithic era to the Ottoman period. The museum was awarded the title of European Museum of the Year in 1997, the first institution to receive this honor.

The origins of the museum date to 1921, when Mübarek Galip Bey, then Director of Culture, established the first museum in Ankara in a section of Ankara Castle known as Akkale. Artifacts from the Temple of Augustus and Rome and the Roman Baths of Ankara were also collected at this time. In the 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sought to create a central Hittite museum, driven by the Turkish History Thesis that posited Anatolia had been continuously settled by Turkic peoples since prehistoric times. Following the identification of Boğazköy as Ḫattuša, the Hittite capital, Atatürk promoted the establishment of a museum to demonstrate Hittite connections to Turkish ancestry. Hamit Zübeyir Koşay, then Culture Minister, suggested to National Education Minister Saffet Arıkan that the abandoned Ottoman buildings of Mahmut Paşa Bazaar and Kurşunlu Han be purchased and converted. Restoration began in 1938 under Koşay and Arıkan, with the German archaeologist H. G. Güterbock chairing the committee that arranged the museum in 1940. The middle section opened to visitors in 1943 while repairs continued. Architect Macit Kural designed the restoration of the central domed space, Zühtü Bey directed the construction work, and İhsan Kıygı handled the restoration of the surrounding shops. The museum reached its present structure in 1968, by which time the Turkish History Thesis had been abandoned after Hittite was classified as an Indo-European language. The institution was then dedicated to all Anatolian civilizations, though Hittite remains remained the primary focus.

The museum presents artifacts chronologically from the Paleolithic era through the Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, Assyrian trading colonies, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuq, and Ottoman periods. The emphasis falls on epochs up to the beginning of the first millennium BCE, particularly Hittite relics. Classical antiquity through the Ottoman Empire is represented more selectively, mainly through pieces from Ankara and its vicinity. The collections derive from major excavations including Karain, Çatalhöyük, Hacılar, Canhasan, Beycesultan, Alacahöyük, Kültepe, Acemhöyük, Boğazköy (Gordion), Pazarlı, Altıntepe, Adilcevaz, and Patnos. Notable categories include gold, silver, glass, marble, and bronze works from the second half of the first millennium BCE, and an extensive coin collection spanning from the first minted money to modern times. The Hittite cuneiform texts from Boğazköy are recognized as UNESCO World Documentary Heritage.

The Paleolithic collection features finds from Karain Cave near Antalya, including Neanderthal skeletons, skulls, and teeth, stone tools and axes, and bone needles and jewelry, some dating to more than 400,000 years ago, the oldest discoveries in Turkey. The Neolithic section contains artifacts from Çatalhöyük and Hacılar Höyük (6500-5600 BCE), including wall paintings in red, pink, brown, black, and white on beige clay plaster, a model of a room with bull heads, and goddess statuettes including the famous Venus of Çatalhöyük depicting a mother goddess giving birth on a throne. The Chalcolithic period (5000-3000 BCE) is represented by monochrome and painted ceramics from Hacılar and Canhasan, copper objects including a bracelet, a silver ring, copper tools and needles, and pottery from Beycesultan, Alişar Höyük, and Alacahöyük. The Early Bronze Age princely tombs of Alacahöyük yield the renowned standards, openwork bronze discs with geometric patterns, sun and animal representations, some with gold and silver inlay, interpreted as ornaments for funeral chariots. The central hall displays monumental Hittite and Phrygian sculptures including orthostat reliefs from temples, palaces, and city walls, with notable pieces from Alacahöyük showing a king and queen with a bull, acrobats, and priests during cult ceremonies. The storm god Teşub relief from the King's Gate at Hattuša, featuring horned helmet, morning star, and curved sword, counts among the finest works of the Great Hittite Empire. Late Hittite orthostat reliefs include the four playing children of King Araras from Karkamiš, three mourning women, the goddess Kubaba on a lion's back, and chariot riders from the 9th century BCE. The basalt lion sculptures from the gate at Sakçagözü and the colossal statue of the king of Milid also command special attention. The Phrygian period (1200-700 BCE) is represented by bronze vessels, ivory reliefs, wooden furniture, and stones with Phrygian inscriptions from Gordion, including a reconstructed funerary chamber associated with the legendary King Midas. The Urartian collection features bronze vessels, weapons, and shields from sites including Toprakkale, Patmos, Altıntepe, and Adilcevaz, dating to the 9th-8th centuries BCE. Assyrian trading colony artifacts from Kültepe (1950-1750 BCE) include Old Assyrian cuneiform tablets, seals, pottery, spouted vessels, animal-shaped rhytons, gold jewelry, and casting molds.

The museum occupies two Ottoman buildings in the historical Atpazarı district near Ankara Castle: the Mahmut Paşa Bedesteni and the Kurşunlu Han. The bedesten, or covered bazaar, was constructed by Grand Vizier Mahmut Pasha, minister of Mehmed II the Conqueror, between 1464-1471 or 1465-1471. The rectangular structure features ten domes covering an enclosed space with 102 shops facing each other under brick vaults along a surrounding gallery. Historical records indicate that pure Angora wool garments were traded here. The Kurşunlu Han, a caravanserai, was built as a foundation by Rum Mehmed Pasha, Mahmut Pasha's successor as grand vizier, to finance alms giving in Üsküdar, Istanbul. No inscriptions survive on either building. Coins from the reign of Murad II (1421-1451) discovered during 1946 restoration confirm the han existed in the 15th century. The structure follows the typical Ottoman caravanserai design with a courtyard and central arcade surrounded by two-story rooms, 28 on the ground floor and 30 on the first floor, all with furnaces. An L-shaped barn occupied the western and southern sections, while 24 shops lined the northern and eastern sides. Both buildings were abandoned after a fire in 1881 and fell into ruin until their conversion for museum use.

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is located in Altındağ municipality in Ankara, Turkey, on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazarı area. The institution operates under the Turkish state and maintains an official website at http://www.anadolumedeniyetlerimuzesi.gov.tr/. The Kurşunlu Han serves as the administrative building, containing work rooms, library, conference hall, laboratory, and workshops, while the former Mahmut Paşa bazaar building houses the exhibition spaces. The chronological display begins in the entrance hall and outer rooms with the Paleolithic period, proceeds counter-clockwise through prehistory and antiquity, and culminates in the central hall with monumental Hittite and Phrygian sculptures. As European Museum of the Year 1997 and holder of UNESCO-recognized documentary heritage, the institution remains one of Ankara's most significant cultural attractions and a major center for archaeological research and public education in Turkey.