I wanted to visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations for a long time, since I read about it in a travel magazine. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting museums in Turkey.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi) located in two buildings of the Ottoman era. These are the covered market (Mahmut Paşa Bedesteni) and the caravanserai (Kurşunlu Han). It is assumed that the covered market was built by the Grand Vizier Mahmut Pasha Angelovich (1456-66, 1472-74) in 1464-71. As for the caravanserai, according to the latest research, it was built by the Grand Vizier Rum Mehmet Pasha (1467-70).
The museum was founded in 1921 and was originally located in one of the towers of the citadel - Akkala, as well as in the temple of Augustus and the Roman bath. In subsequent years, the museum began to expand rapidly under the influence of Atatürk, who wanted to create a Hittite museum in Ankara. The museum received a lot of exhibits from the surrounding areas, where the remains of ancient Hittite cities have been preserved, as well as monuments belonging to other ancient civilizations and discovered in Turkey. A significant increase in the number of exhibits caused the need for new premises for their placement. It was decided to use the aforementioned covered market and caravanserai, abandoned after a fire in 1881. After their restoration and renovation (1938-1968), the museum was opened to the general public as the Ankara Archaeological Museum.
In 1997, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations won the "Best European Museum of the Year" award after beating 68 applicants. It is currently the only Turkish museum to receive this award.
Today, the caravanserai houses offices, a library, a conference hall, a laboratory and a workshop. Museum expositions are located in the building of the covered market. Currently, the museum contains collections related to the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age, to the period of the Assyrian trading colonies, the kingdoms of the Hittites, Phrygians and Urartu civilization, the Lydian civilization, as well as to Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Byzantine and Ottoman empires . Here is an extensive collection of monuments discovered during excavations in Catalhoyuk (Neolithic and Eneolithic), Alajahoyuk (Bronze Age), Kültepe (colonies of Assyrian merchants), Boazköy (Boğazköy, the ancient Hittite capital of Hattus), Karchemish and Gordion (Phrygia).
Museum official website (in Turkish): http://www.anadolumedeniyetlerimuzesi.gov.tr/ana-sayfa/1-54417/20101203.html
Virtual tour of the museum halls (in Turkish): http://www.kultur.gov.tr/genel/SanalMuzeler/anadoluMM/index.html
*For those who do not speak Turkish but want to take a virtual tour:
Atölye - workshop
İdare - administration
Zemin Kat- museum exposition located on the ground floor
Muze- the main museum exhibition
Müze - the main museum exhibition
Bahçe, Arka Bahçe - museum gardens
Giriş - entrance to the museum
Exposure:
Paleolitik Dönem - Paleolithic
Neolitik Donem - Neolithic
Kalkolitik Dönem - Chalcolithic (Eneolithic)
Eski Tunç Dönem - Early Bronze Age
Asur Ticaret Kolonileri - Assyrian trading colonies
Eski Hitit - Ancient Hittite Kingdom
Hitit İmparatorluğu - Hittite Empire
Frigler - Phrygians
Urartular - Urartu
LidyalIlar - Lydians
Geç Hititler - Late Hittite kingdoms
Zemin Kat is a museum exposition located on the ground floor.
Klasik Dönem – Classic period
Çağlar Boyu Ankara – Ankara Through the Ages
Museum halls:
3.
From the exhibition dedicated to the Neolithic (c. 8000-5500 BC)
From the exhibition dedicated to the Late Hittite kingdoms (c. 1200-700 BC)
19. King Sulumeli pours sacred water before the thunder god. Basalt. 10th-9th centuries / 850-800 BC. From Aslantepe (province of Malatya, near Malatya).
20. A winged creature with a lion's body and the heads of a lion and a man. 950-850 BC. From Carchemish.
21. Altar decorated with Luvian (Hittite) hieroglyphs. OK. 9th c. BC. From Carchemish.
22. Half people, half bulls (kusarikku, kusarikku) and half people, half lions (ugallu, ugallu). Basalt. 950-850 BC. From Carchemish.
23. Warriors. Second half of the 8th c. BC. From Carchemish.
26. A fragment of a statue of a god sitting on a throne (something like a pedestal). The monument is made in the traditions of Hittite art during its heyday.
27. Women's procession.
28. Warriors on a war chariot. Basalt. 950-850/920-900/8th century BC. From Carchemish.
29. Goddess Kubaba. OK. 850/920-900 BC From Carchemish.
The prototype of Kubaba was the Hurrian goddess of fertility Hebat (Khepit), the wife of the thunder god Teshub. Hebat was identified with the Hittite sun goddess Arinna. Later she was revered in Phrygia, where she was identified with Cybele. It is also mentioned in Assyrian texts.
From the exposition dedicated to the Phrygian kingdom (13-6 centuries BC)
32. Vessels in the form of birds. Beginning of the 7th c. BC. From the burial mound in Gordion (Ankara province).
Gordion - the capital of the Phrygian kingdom from about the 10th century. BC.
34. Boiler. Bronze.
This cauldron was discovered during the excavations of a Phrygian city, however, it is considered to be an art of the Urartu civilization; the figurine decorating the cauldron is probably an image of the Urartian sun god Shivini. For more details on the decoration of cauldrons in the art of Urartu, see my comment below.
35. Situals with lion and ram heads. Bronze. OK. 700 BC From the Great Mound in Gordion.
Situla, lat. situla - a vessel in the form of a bucket, most often metal, less often terracotta, common among a number of ancient cultures of the Mediterranean. Usually situla had a ceremonial purpose. It had the shape of a cylinder or a truncated cone, with a flat or rounded bottom, sometimes with a handle.
36. Statue of the goddess Cybele surrounded by musicians (one plays the flute, the other the lyre). Mid 6th c. BC. From Boazkoy (Boğazköy, Corum Province).
Boazkoy (Boazkale, Boğazkale) - the ancient Hittite capital of Hattus.
37. Reconstructed fragment of a Phrygian building from Pararla. 7th-6th centuries BC.
From the exposition dedicated to the civilization of Urartu (c. 1200-600 BC)
39. Urartian cuneiform. 9th c. BC. From the area around Lake Van (Van Province).
The Urartu language was deciphered thanks to a pair of bilingual Assyrian inscriptions.
40. Vessel decorated with women's faces.
41. Cauldron on a stand, decorated with bulls' heads. Bronze.
From the exposition called "Ankara through the ages" (Çağlar Boyu Ankara), located on the ground floor of the museum.
42. Monument of the Roman era.
43. Monument from a Roman burial in Balgat (Ankara region).
44. In the museum garden.
47. A copy of an unfinished Hittite stele dating from the end of the 13th century. BC. The original of this stele was found lying on its back in the vicinity of the village of Fasyllar, Beysehir district, Konya province. The stele was made of trachyte (a volcanic rock with a granular structure and a light color). The height of the original stele from the lion's paws to the top is 7 m 40 cm, plus there is a pedestal 80 cm high. The copy of the stele has the same dimensions and color.
The stele depicts a great god (more than 4 m high) standing on a smaller mountain god surrounded by two lions.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara (Ankara, Turkey) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
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The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is the modern, largest and most significant museum not only in Ankara, but in the whole country. This world-class museum boasts a unique rich collection of rare historical artifacts. It was founded in 1921 and grew rapidly under the auspices of President Atatürk, who was interested in preserving and studying the history of the Hittite tribes. Nowadays, the museum has expositions dedicated to prehistoric history starting from the Neolithic, as well as Assyrian civilization, the Hittites and Phrygians, great ancient civilizations, ancient Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire. The exhibits collected in the museum cover a period of 7500 years, and its collection of ancient Hittites is unparalleled in the whole world.
The exhibits collected in the museum cover a period of 7500 years, and its collection of ancient Hittites is unparalleled in the whole world.
At first, the museum occupied part of the Ankara castle (Akkale), and it housed artifacts from the temple of Augustus and the Byzantine baths. On the recommendation of Ataturk and with the expectation of creating a full-fledged Hittite museum, a need arose for a new building, for which two buildings were chosen - the former bazaar and the caravanserai. The buildings of the mid-15th century were restored from 1938 to 1968. The half-restored building was opened to the public in 1943. The round-domed Kursunlu Khan building became an administrative building with a laboratory and conference hall, and the Mahmud Pasha covered bazaar turned into an exhibition hall.
After a total renovation, the museum was reopened to the public in May 2014.
Today, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations boasts several rare exhibits. For the Paleolithic exposition, these are finds made in the Karainskaya cave in Antalya. In the Neolithic hall you can see statuettes of the mother goddess Cybele, obsidian tools and a depiction of a hunting scene from the 7th millennium BC. e. Bronze Age displays are dominated by artifacts associated with the Hittite tribes, including sun discs, deer figurines, female figures, and jewelry. The Assyrian period in the collection of the museum is represented, among other things, by 20 thousand clay tablets with writing samples, the relief depicting the god of war from the Royal Gate in Hattus can be considered the pearl of the Kask collection. Also interesting are the tablets that store the correspondence between the Egyptian queen Nefertari and the Kask queen Puduhepa, started after the signing of the Kadesh peace treaty - the first in world history (mid-13th century BC).
Detailed collections also reflect the history of the Urartians, Phrygians, Lydians up to about the 6th century BC. e. Later periods of the history of the region are not covered in such detail in the museum: these are expositions dedicated to antiquity and the history of Ankara. Here you can see statues, jewelry and decorated vessels made of gold, silver, glass, marble and bronze, as well as a wide variety of coins.
Practical information
The museum is located on a rather steep hill, and if you don't want to climb up on foot, it's worth taking a taxi (the trip from the main city station will cost about 12 TRY).
Address: Gozcu Sokak No 2 06240, Ulus.
Opening hours: the museum is open from 9:00 to 17:00.
Prices on the page are for October 2018.
Official information
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations,
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Muzesi,
Gozcu Sokak No:2 - Ankara ,
www.anadolumedeniyetlerimuzesi.gov.tr
General information about the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations(according to published sources)
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (tour. Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi, English Museum of Anatolian Civilizations) is one of the richest museums in the world, the main historical museum of Turkey, located in its capital, Ankara.
The museum was founded in 1921. And in subsequent years, it expanded rapidly under the influence of Kemal Atatürk, the first president of Turkey, who wanted to create a Hittite museum in Ankara, and contributed to the acquisition of new buildings for the museum, as well as the fact that the museum received many exhibits from the surrounding areas, where the remains of ancient Hittite cities were preserved . The museum was also filled with exhibits of other ancient civilizations that were discovered in Turkey.
Currently, the museum contains collections of the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Assyrian and Urartian civilizations, Hittites and Phrygians, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations won the European Museum of the Year award in 1997.
Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara is one of the richest museums in the world, the main historical museum of Turkey, which is the third most important archaeological museum in Europe after the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations was founded by Turkish President Kemal Atatürk in 1921..
The museum is located in buildings built in the XV V . , which during the reign of Mehmet the Conqueror served as a covered market and a caravanserai.The building of the caravanserai houses the working and service area of the museum with a library, study rooms, a conference room, a laboratory and a workshop. The exhibitions themselves are located on the territory of the former market in a kind of niches. It contains exhibits that are related to the history and culture of all peoples living vsh them on the land of Anatolia since the Paleolithic. In addition, there are large collections of ancient Greek and Roman historical values, as well as objects related to the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. yam. ...
The pride of the museum are the finds of the Neolithic era, which are about eight thousand years old. These are ceramic and clay household items, decorated with drawings, tools and jewelry.
The Bronze Age is represented by animal figurines and various gold items.
The era of the Assyrian trading colonies is characterized by clay tablets with Assyrian writings, with the help of which it was possible to learn a lot about the facts of this period of history.
The museum also presents finds of the Hittite rule - various statuettes of gods, animals, vessels.
Most of the exhibits of the Phrygian kingdom were seized from the royal burial ground, which is located on the hill of Gordion, which was considered the capital of the Phrygian state. There were various wooden pieces of furniture, ceramic and metal vases, etc.
Now the museum is fully adapted for visiting it by foreign tourists, if necessary, you can hire an English-speaking guide. And in the 90s, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations received the title of the best European museum of the year.
The museum collection dates back to 1921. It appeared thanks to the efforts of Mubarak Galip Bey, who was engaged in the history of the ancient Turkish citadel Ak Kale. Valuable exhibits found their first shelter within the walls of this castle. But the legendary president Kemal Ataturk became interested in the idea of founding the museum, and at his suggestion, it was decided to allocate separate buildings for this purpose.
Restoration work began in 1938 in two historical buildings from the 15th century - a former caravanserai and a covered bazaar building. And already in 1943, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations conducted the first excursions, although the restoration of buildings continued for another 25 years. Another major renovation took place here in 2014.
How to get there
The museum complex is located in the historical part of the city, not far from the Ak Kale fortress.
The exact address: Gözcu Sokak No: 2 06240 Ulus, Ankara.
It can be reached:
Option 1
Metro: take the red line to Ulus station.
On foot: walk down Cumhuriyet Cd. to the intersection, then along Anafartalar Cd. to the intersection with Hisar Parkı Cd., at the end of which you will find the museum. The whole journey will take about 20 minutes.
Option 2
Bus: routes No. 336, 343, 348, 365, 377, 381 and others to the Yeğenbey Vergi Dairesi stop.
On foot: you need to walk to Kale Mh. street, from which turn onto Timur Sk street. The whole journey to the museum will take about 6 minutes.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations on the map
What to see
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is rich in rare exhibits, because it was not for nothing that in 1997 it was recognized as the best in.
Of particular interest are:
- Paleolithic room with objects found during excavations in the famous Karain cave.
- Neolithic room with rock paintings dating as far back as the 7th millennium BC and statuettes of goddesses.
- Bronze Age collection including art from the Hittite tribes.
- The hall dedicated to the Assyrian Empire, which contains about 20,000 clay tablets - ancient letters from the Assyrians.
- Correspondence of the Hittite queen Puduhepa with the wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, preserved on tablets from the 13th century BC.
