Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Archaeological museum in Atpazarı area, Ankara, Turkey.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is an archaeological museum in Ankara, housed in two 15th-century Ottoman buildings, the Mahmut Paşa bazaar warehouse and the Kurşunlu Han, below the castle walls. The collections span several rooms arranged by period, showing finds from the Stone Age through the Iron Age.
Mübarek Galip Bey established the first collection on the castle grounds in 1921 and later moved it to the old caravanserais, which have served as the museum since 1938. The buildings were adapted during restoration to accommodate the new function, and the collection grew to include finds from across Turkey.
Visitors see tools from the Paleolithic era, Hittite reliefs, Phrygian grave goods, and a collection of Assyrian clay tablets laid out in display cases. The halls follow a chronological sequence that traces the evolution of settlements and techniques across the Anatolian plateau.
The museum opens daily and provides information panels in several languages as well as guided tours. The rooms are mostly level and well lit, making the visit easier for people with limited mobility.
The collection preserves a bull-shaped vessel from the Hittite period and cuneiform tablets containing diplomatic correspondence between the rulers of Egypt and the Hittites. These clay tablets provide evidence of international relations in the second millennium before the common era.
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