Ephesus Tours
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Private Day Tours
    • Istanbul Tours
      • Full Day Bosphorus Tours
      • Istanbul by Night: Turkish Dinner and Show
      • Half Day Classical Istanbul Tours
      • Full Day Private Istanbul Tours
      • Half Day Topkapi Palace Tours
      • Half Day Dolmabahce Palace Tours
      • Half Day Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace Tours
      • Istanbul Tours for Disabled
      • Half Day Istanbul Archeology Tours
      • Jewish Heritage Tours in Istanbul
      • Istanbul Shopping Tours
    • Ephesus Tours
      • Ephesus Tours From Izmir Port
      • Half Day Ephesus Tours
      • Full Day Ephesus Tours
      • Deluxe Half Day Ephesus Tours
      • Deluxe Full Day Ephesus Tours
      • Ephesus Tours From Istanbul
      • Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary Tours
      • Ephesus Tours for Disabled
      • Ephesus and Terrace Houses Tours
      • Ephesus and Kirazli Village Tours
      • Ephesus Tours From Cappadocia
      • Ephesus Tours From Antalya
      • Tandem Sky Diving at Ephesus
      • Microflight Tour Over Ephesus
      • Ephesus and Sirince Village Tours
      • Ephesus Tours From Kusadasi
      • Taxi from Kusadasi port to Ephesus
      • We Guarantee the Lowest Price on Private Ephesus Tours!
    • Cappadocia Tours
      • Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Tours
      • North Cappadocia Tours and Goreme Museum
      • South Cappadocia and Kaymakli Underground City Tours
      • Whirling Dervishes Ceremony in Cappadocia
      • Turkish Night Entertainment Show in Cappadocia
      • Cappadocia Tours From Istanbul
      • Cappadocia Turkish Bath (Hammam)
      • Cappadocia Horse Riding Tours
      • Cappadocia Trekking Tours
      • Nemrut Tours From Cappadocia
      • Cappadocia Mountain Biking Tours
      • Ihlara Canyon and Derinkuyu Underground City tours
    • Biblical Tours in Turkey
      • In The Footsteps of St Paul
      • Seven Churches of Revelation Tours
      • Jewish Heritage Tour in Turkey
      • Seven Churches and St. Nicholas
      • Early Churches of St. Paul and St. John
      • Seven Churches and Cave of Abraham
  • Private DMC
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Sitemap
Ephesus Tours Istanbul Tours Cappadocia Tours Biblical Tours Kusadasi Transfers

Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

Home → Ankara, Turkey → Museum of Anatolian Civilizations

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
please wait...
Rating: 5.0/5 (6893 votes cast)

The superb Museum of Anatolian Civilisations is the perfect introduction to the complex weave of Turkey’s ancient past, housing artefacts cherry-picked from just about every significant archaeological site in Anatolia.

museum-of-anatolian-civilizations-ankara

The museum is housed in a beautifully restored 15th-century bedesten (covered market). The 10-domed central marketplace houses reliefs and statues, while the surrounding hall displays exhibits from the earlier Anatolian civilisations: Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Assyrian, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian and Lydian. The downstairs sections hold classical Greek and Roman artefacts and a display on Ankara’s history. Get there early to avoid the flood of tour groups and school parties.

The exhibits are chronologically arranged in a spiral: start at the Palaeolithic and Neolithic displays in the room to the right of the entrance, then continue in an anticlockwise direction, visiting the central room last.

Items from one of the most important Neolithic sites in the world  Çatalhöyük, southeast of Konya – are displayed here. There’s a mock-up of the inside of a dwelling typical of those uncovered at the site, one of the most famous mother goddess sculptures unearthed from the excavations and wall paintings of hunting scenes.

Also on show are many finds from the Assyrian trading colony Kültepe, one of the world’s oldest and wealthiest bazaars. These include baked-clay tablets found at the site, which dates to the beginning of the 2nd millenium BC.

One of the striking Hittite figures of bulls and stags in the next room used to be the emblem of Ankara. The Hittites were known for their relief work, and some mighty slabs representing the best pieces found in the country, generally from around Hattuşa, are on display in the museum’s central room.

Most of the finds from the Phrygian capital Gordion, including incredible inlaid wooden furniture, are on display in the museum’s last rooms. The exhibits also include limestone blocks with still-indecipherable inscriptions resembling the Greek alphabet, and lion- and ram-head ritual vessels that show the high quality of Phrygian metalwork.

Urartian artifacts are also on display here. Spurred by rich metal deposits, the Urartians were Anatolia’s foremost metalworkers, as the knives, horse-bit, votive plates and shields on display demonstrate. There are also terracotta figures of gods in human form, some revealing their divine powers by growing scorpion tails, and neo-Hittite artefacts.

Downstairs, classical-period finds and regional history displays provide a local picture. Excavations have unearthed a Roman road near the Column of Julian, and Ankara has its own ‘missing link’, the 9.8-million-year-old Ankarapithecus (a 30kg, fruit-eating primate).

galleries-museum-of-anatolian-civilizations

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: +7181 (from 7181 votes)
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, 100% based on 7181 ratings
171 Reviews
  1. Maggie C
    2:33 am on August 26, 2013

    This museum has material from neolithic days (Catal Hoyuk) to Hittites, Greco-Roman to Byzantine to Ottoman Turks. It has the material from what might be Midas's tomb, many Hittite sculptures and bas reliefs) and thousands of fabulous artifacts from the cultures that have moved across Anatolia for at lest 10,000 years. Well worth a visit if you like archaeology, art…

    Reply
Page 18 of 18« First...«9101112131415161718
Add New Reviews
Click here to cancel reply.

ephesus tours

The big tip is to try and go completely private. Many of the large tour companies offer private tour and they are going to charge a significant amount of money for the tour guide. However, many locations offer self-guided tours and therefore you have the ability to supply your own tour guide. Easily Book your guided private Ephesus tours, to see all the treasures of Ephesus Turkey. It's often said that Turkey has more ancient cities and classical ruins than does Greece. Well, it's true, and the Aegean coast holds a great number of sites, including Ephesus, the grandest and best-preserved of them all.

ephesustoursguide.com © 2013-2017 All Rights Reserved
Back to Top