Istanbul Archaeology Museums - Collection

Collection

The ornate Alexander Sarcophagus, once believed to be prepared for Alexander the Great, is among the most famous pieces of ancient art in the museum. The Kadesh Peace Treaty (1258 BCE), signed between Ramesses II of Egypt and Hattusili III of the Hittite Empire, is a favourite of visitors. It is the oldest known peace treaty in the world, and a giant poster of this tablets containing the treaty is on the wall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The museum has a large collection of Turkish, Hellenistic and Roman artifacts. The most prominent artifacts exhibited in the museum include:

  • Alexander Sarcophagus, found in the necropolis of Sidon
  • Sarcophagus of the Crying Women, also found in Sidon
  • Sarcophagi of Tabnit and the Satrap
  • The Lycian tomb, a monumental tomb
  • Glazed tile images from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon
  • Statues from ancient antiquity until the end of the Roman Era, from Aphrodisias, Ephesus and Miletus
  • Statue of an Ephebos
  • Parts of statues from the Temple of Zeus found at Bergama
  • Statue of a lion, the only piece saved from the hands of British archaeologists in the Mausoleum of Maussollos
  • Snake's head from the Serpentine Column erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople
  • Mother-Goddess Cybele and votive stelai
  • Busts of Alexander the Great and Zeus
  • Fragments from the temple of Athena at Assos
  • The Troy exhibit
  • 800,000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations and medals
  • One of the three known tablets of the Treaty of Kadesh.
  • The obelisk of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III
  • Tablet archive containing some 75,000 documents with cuneiform inscriptions
  • Artifacts from the early civilizations of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Arabia and Egypt
  • Siloam inscription, which made headlines in July 2007 when Israel asked for its return

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