WITNESSES TO HISTORY:
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMS OF ISTANBUL
The Royal Walls do not only
surround Topkapi Palace. Within the Royal Walls are archaeological Museums of
Istanbul, which consist of the Archaeological Musuem, Musuem of Ancient Orient
and the Cinili Kiosk (Tiled Kiosk) Museum, all of which are among the world’s
famous museums.
At the entrance of the
Archaeological Museums the first building on the left is the Museum of Ancient
Orient. This museum houses rare artefacts collected from the Ottoman territory
before the First World War, from Lands such as Egypt, Syria and Palestine, as
well as Anatolian finds.
The most important item held
in the museum is the Kadesh Peace Treaty, which is known to be the oldest
recorded treaty in the world. Also there are almost 75000 cuneiform tablets,
making the museum an important resource for this type of artefact.
The archaeological museum
forms the main body of the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul and exhibits the
most well-known items such as the Sacrcophagus of Alexander the Great and
Sarcophagus of Crying Women, as well as numerous artefacts from successive
Anatolian civilisations.
Recently a new ancillary building has been added to
the complex so the exhibition capacity has greatly increased and 2 storey of
the old building built at the end of the 19th century were devoted
to the exhibition of unique artefacts such as statues, sarcophagi and coins
from antiquity to the Byzantine Period. The 4 storey of the 6 storey ancillary
building are open to visitors. The ground floor is designed to introduce
children to history and stimulate their interest in the subject. The first
floor is dedicated to the history of Istanbul. The second floor is dedicated to
the Trojan War and displays artefacts from excavations at Troy as well as other
settlements in Anatolia: this exhibition is called “Anatolia through Antiquity
and Troy’. The upper floor is dedicated to exhibiting artefacts from land such
as Syriia and Palestine, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire.
The museum opposite the
Archaeology Museum is the Cinili Koosk Musuem. This building is one of the
oldest examples of civilian architecture in Istanbul and was built in 1472. Its
name is derived from the tile mosaics on its façade. And as its name suggests,
it exhibits tiles and ceramic artefacts from the Seljuk and Ottoman periods.
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