Arkeoloji Müzeleri (Istanbul Archaeology Museums)

Arkeoloji Müzeleri (Istanbul Archaeology Museums) Review

Step into this vast repository of spectacular finds, housed in a forecourt of Topkapi Sarayi, for a head-spinning look at the civilizations that have thrived for thousands of years in Turkey. The museum was created in the 1890s, when forward-thinking archaeologist and painter Osman Hamdi Bey campaigned to keep native antiquities and some items from the former countries of the Ottoman Empire in Turkish hands. The most stunning pieces are tombs that include the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus, from Lebanon, carved with scenes from Alexander the Great's battles and once believed, wrongly, to be his final resting place. An excellent exhibit on Istanbul through the ages shows off artifacts from prehistory through the Byzantines and Ottomans, and helps put the city's complex past in context. There is also an extensive collection of classical sculpture and even a model Trojan horse for the kids.

Another building in the courtyard of Topkapi Sarayi houses the Eski Sark Eserleri Müzesi (Museum of the Ancient Orient), where you will be transported to even earlier times: The vast majority of the panels, mosaics, obelisks, and other artifacts here, from Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere in the Arab world, date from the pre-Christian centuries. A particularly intricate tablet is the Treaty of Kadesh from the 13th century BC, perhaps the world's earliest known peace treaty, an accord between the Hittite king Hattusilis III and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. The Çinili Köskü (Tiled Pavilion) is one of the most visually pleasing sights in all of Istanbul—a bright profusion of colored tiles covers this one-time hunting lodge of Mehmet the Conqueror, and inside are ceramics from the early Seljuk and Ottoman empires, as well as tiles from Iznik, the city that produced perhaps the finest ceramics in the world during the 17th and 18th centuries. In summer, you can mull over these glimpses into the distant past as you sip coffee or tea at the café in the garden.