New Archaeological Museum in Antalya

The Archaeological Museum in Antalya has been closed to visitors as of 16 July 2025. A recent seismic analysis has revealed that the existing building is a high-risk structure. This led the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to take drastic measures to tear down the existing building and replace it with a new earthquake-resistant construction. 

[The project image of the new Antalya Archaeology Museum, which will be built

on the same site. (IHA Photo)]

It must have been a gigantic task to pack and remove the extensive collection of statues, reliefs, sarcophagi, coins, and other artifacts to their temporary storage units on the premises. 

If all goes according to plan, the Museum is expected to reopen by the end of 2026 with larger exhibition space and state-of-the-art conservation facilities. An ambitious deadline! 

The museum’s conservation and restoration work will not be interrupted and will continue elsewhere on the property. 

This kind of extensive restoration and modernization project is not limited to Antalya, though. Another 37 museums affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Turkey will shut down. 

The country is prone to earthquakes, and sooner or later, the structures show signs of serious degradation. The most recent example is the strong earthquake of February 2023 that devastated so many buildings in southeastern Turkey and damaged several museums as well. 

Aging infrastructure is another issue impacting several major institutions such as the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul, the Fethiye Museum in Mugla, the Museum of Aphrodisias in Aydin, and the Archaeology Museum of Gaziantep. In central Anatolia, the Museums of Nevsehir, Urgup, and Nigde are all undergoing reinforcement work. Last but not least, redesigning the layout and display of the exhibited artworks is another issue. 

I am sharing hereafter a list of the 37 museums involved, including their dates of closure and reasons for repair as published in Türkiye Today.

List of closed museums in Türkiye   (As of July 2025)

1.           Gaziantep Archaeology Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Feb. 6, 2023)

2.           Hatay Archaeology Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Feb. 6, 2023)

3.           Kilis Alaeddin Yavasca Museum
(Concert Hall – Restoration – Feb. 6, 2023)

4.           Malatya Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Feb. 6, 2023)

5.           Malatya Beskonaklar Ethnography Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Feb. 6, 2023)

6.           Mugla Fethiye Museum
(Structural Reinforcement – March 4, 2023)

7.           Istanbul Great Palace Mosaics Museum
(Restoration – April 9, 2023)

8.           Istanbul Tiled Kiosk Museum (Cinili Kosk)
(Exhibition and Layout Renewal – April 19, 2023)

9.           Mugla Museum
(Reinforcement and Restoration – June 22, 2023)

10.        Eregli Museum
(Reinforcement – July 5, 2023)

11.        Nevsehir Museum
(Reinforcement – Aug. 31, 2023)

12.        Bitlis Ethnography Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Sept. 20, 2023)

13.        Yozgat Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – Dec. 11, 2023)

14.        Nigde Museum
(Reinforcement – Dec. 11, 2023)

15.        Urgup Museum
(Reinforcement – Dec. 11, 2023)

16.        Aphrodisias Museum
(Reinforcement – Jan.11, 2024)

17.        Konuralp Museum
(Reinforcement – Jan. 11, 2024)

18.        Kutahya Museum
(New Building Construction – Feb. 2, 2024)

19.        Galata Mevlevihane Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – May 13, 2024)

20.        Hazeranlar Mansion (Amasya)
(Restoration & Exhibition Arrangement – Nov. 11, 2024)

21.        Lycia Civilizations Museum (Demre, Antalya)
(Exhibition, Layout & Landscaping — Feb 17, 2025)

22.        Istanbul Archaeological Museums
(Classical Building Ground Floor, Annex, and North Wing—Reinforcement/Restoration – April 19, 2023)

23.        Mersin Anamur Museum
(General Reinforcement – Dec. 27, 2012)

24.        Isparta Museum
(Repair & Landscaping – Aug. 28, 2014)

25.        Elazig Museum
(Reinforcement – Aug. 18, 2016)

26.        Diyarbakir Silvan Ataturk House Museum
(General Repair – Dec. 24, 2018)

27.        Bursa Yenisehir Semaki House Museum
(Restoration – Dec. 16, 2019)

28.        Izmir Tire Museum
(Reinforcement – June 22, 2020)

29.        Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient (Eski Sark Eserleri Muzesi)
(Exhibition and Layout Renewal – May 12, 2022)

30.        Adana Suleyman Tower (Suleyman Kulesi)
(Landscaping – May 26, 2022)

31.        Kastamonu Liva Pasha Mansion Ethnography Museum
(Restoration – Oct. 20, 2022)

32.        Adiyaman Museum
(Maintenance/Repair – Feb. 6, 2023)

33.        Kars Museum (Ethnographic Hall)
(Exhibition Preparation – March 4, 2025)

34.        Fethiye Museum (Second Entry)
(Restoration – April 5, 2025)

35.        Antalya Museum
(New Building Construction & Collection Relocation – July 16, 2025)

36.        Adnan Menderes Democracy Museum
(Maintenance and Repair – July 7, 2025)

37.                Ahlat Museum
(Landscaping – July 21, 2025)

[Mosaic from the Temple of Apollo, Letoon

Original at the Museum of Fethiye]

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has not provided specific reopening dates for most of these institutions. Instead, they have left it rather vague, using words such as “until the completion of works”.

Reading and decoding inscriptions

Today’s visitors will inevitably come across many inscriptions when visiting ancient sites or museums. Reading Greek or Latin is not for everybody, and understanding the meaning of the text and context is reserved only for the happy few. The stone or marble support has more often than not suffered from wear and tear, leaving the untrained eye to merely guess its value. 

We are lucky to find an explanation next to the inscription, rarely a full translation, as those are reserved for scholars. Well, the text may be boring, but it also may contain some exciting twists and turns. Yet, who wants to know? 

In antiquity, people would read the latest laws and decrees, regulations and agreements, peace treaties, manumission of slaves, grave markers, boundary stones, milestones, etc., as they walked through public spaces. Some of these texts are still in situ, particularly those engraved on the walls of still-standing monuments. The majority, however, has found a place in the museum for safekeeping and is often out of sight. 

The most familiar examples of inscriptions are those chiseled on grave steles, sarcophagi, and tombs. They also appear on the pedestals of statues lining the streets, like Phaselis’ Harbor Street or Olympia’s road to the Stadium. Others serve to identify the deities, kings, and emperors that fill the sanctuaries and agoras, or the niches of theatres, stadiums, libraries, baths, Nymphaeums, and other public buildings. 

But some inscriptions will surprise many of us. 

For instance, this stele at the Louvre Museum holds the accounts of the Parthenon Treasury. The text covers both sides of the stele made of Pentelikon marble and illustrates how democracy works. Athens’ magistrates submitted the public accounts to the citizens for all to see. The front side, beneath a relief of the Sacred Olive Tree flanked by Athena and the people (demos), displays the expenses for military operations, religious ceremonies, and the Panathenaic festival held in honor of their patron goddess for 410-409 BC. The reverse side has the expenditures for 407-406 BC.

In Butrint, Albania, a striking series of inscriptions is carved on the outside walls of the Roman Theater of Buthrotum, as the city was called in antiquity. 

They are hard to read but worth our attention because these are manumissions, slaves who had gained their freedom for whatever reason. Their sheer number is mind-blowing!

As surprising and revealing are the Edicts on prices! Who would have thought that there were strict rules to define the prices of goods in antiquity! 

The first such example I encountered was at Ptolemais in Libya, proclaimed by Emperor Diocletian in 301 AD.

Also by Diocletian is the Edict on maximum prices for products and labor discovered in Halicarnassus, dated to 301 AD. The Emperor hoped to stave off a financial crisis and prevent inflation. 

Although this tablet was unearthed in Bodrum (the modern name for Halicarnassus), bits of similar Edicts were also found in Pergamon, Aizanoi, Aphrodisias, and Stratonikea. It is quite surprising to read that the Edict from Halicarnassus consists of 37 parts. Part 9, for instance, is about shoes and boots … 27 different kinds and sizes are listed!

Taxes are another matter that deserves attention. One such inscription that is hard to miss can be seen on Curetes Street in Ephesos, close to the Library. 

This tax law was written in the second half of the 4^th century AD, during the rule of Emperors Valentian I, Valens, and Gratian.

Less obvious is Alexander’s tax remission from the wall of the Temple of Athena in Priene, now exhibited in the British Museum in London. 

Alexander contributed to the cost of building the unfinished temple, and in return, he was allowed to dedicate it: “King Alexander dedicated the temple of Athena Polias”. 

This text was followed by a longer inscription setting out the terms of an agreement between Alexander and Priene under which the city was to be exempt from taxation. 

Not all inscriptions were written in Greek or Latin, and I find it fascinating to hunt for these exceptions. 

Having a closer look at Lycia’s sarcophagi strewn throughout the landscape, I discovered texts that seemed to be written in Greek but are in Lycian, as they contain several odd letters that do not exist in the Greek alphabet. Antiphellos and Limyra have good illustrations of Lycian texts.

Another case is to be found in Sillyum, some 25 kilometers northeast of Antalya, an often overlooked site, although the hillside is easily spotted in the otherwise flat plain of Pamphylia. 

It takes some detective work to locate the inscription in the Pamphylian language carved in the doorpost of a Hellenistic building – a very rewarding effort though!

The people of ancient Side also had a language of their own. A small inscription has survived and can be seen at the local museum located inside the remains of the Roman Baths.

After Alexander conquered Lycia and Pamphylia, Greek became the lingua franca, and the local tongues disappeared.

A nearly perfect head of Zeus from Aphrodisias

Aphrodisias was known for its skillful sculptors throughout the Roman Empire. They took advantage of the nearby marble quarries that provided a typical medium-grained variation of the readily available material. Whoever drives through Asia Minor cannot miss the often colorful patches of marble quarries that dot the landscape.  

[Picture is from Arxaia Ellinika]

The many monuments excavated in Aphrodisias expose the great craftsmanship of its builders, embellished with reliefs and statues as testified by the latest find. 

It is a nearly perfect, colossal marble head of Zeus recovered about 50 meters west of the famous Temple of Aphrodite. It is 66 centimeters high, i.e., larger than life-size. The deep relief of the god’s hair and beard indicates that the head belongs to the 2^nd-3^rd century AD. At the same time, it makes Zeus’ face look more realistic. 

For the history of Aphrodisias, please read my earlier blog, Aphrodisias, the city of Aphrodite (Turkey).

A Colosseum in Mastaura, Turkey

The ancient city of Mastaura is unknown to me and the internet is not proving to be very helpful. The site is situated 50 kilometers east of Aydin, Turkey. 

In the middle of nowhere, aerial pictures revealed a circle around a depression that was too perfect to be natural. The untrained eye may miss it altogether but the hidden contours belonged to a Colosseum. A lot of vegetation and a thick layer of soil has hidden this Roman construction from view for centuries. It was discovered in 2020 and as the archaeologists started clearing the site by cutting trees and bushes that had held the stone remains in their grip, they realized it belonged to Mastaura. 

[Picture from Arkeonews]

Having lain buried for centuries, the Colosseum underground is rather well-preserved. The parts of the building above ground reveal rows of seats, the central area where the spectacles took place, and the outside supporting walls and vaults. It is definitely smaller than its counterpart in Rome. 

The amphitheater could soon be dated to about 200 AD, i.e., the days when emperors of the Severan Dynasty ruled, 193-235 AD. 

Usually, amphitheaters are oval-shaped, but this is one of the rare circular examples, measuring 30x40 meters. The only round example I have ever seen was in Cyrene, modern Libya. There, its life started as a theater but the expansion of the city called for an amphitheater. Lacking the space for an oval shape, the builders simply mirrored the existing theater to create a round amphitheater (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). 

The Colosseum of Mastaura offered seating to 15,000-20,000 people, which may have come from neighboring cities such as Aphrodisias, Miletus, Priene, and Ephesos. It is one of three such arenas discovered so far in Turkey. The spectacles were similar to the gladiator battles and animal fights organized all over the Roman Empire. 

Mastaura appears to be built inside a narrow valley, maybe along a small river and covered an amazing surface of 160,000 m2. Over the past two years, researchers unearthed an impressive underground sewage system that spread over the entire city. Based on the engineering technique and the materials used, it can be dated to around 200 BC and was probably used well into the days of Roman imperial rule. The size of the sewer is such that one can comfortably walk inside them. For now, the passage is blocked some 20 meters into the system because the walls caved in. 

[Picture from Arkeonews/IHA]

A lot of work remains to be done at Mastaura, like reinforcing some sections of the walls and brickwork of the Colosseum, clearing the sewage system, and exposing more buildings and artifacts around the city.

Mastaura was important enough to mint its own coins in Roman times, and a substantial number has been found so far and needs to be further analyzed.

Price list established by Emperor Diocletian

One would not expect to find rules defining the maximum price for goods and services in the year 301 AD, but this is exactly what happened.

On the 1^st of September 301, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to this purpose containing as many as 1,400 items for raw materials and manufacturing goods as well as for services in order to curb the high inflation. It was posted all over his empire, and so far, it is known that, for instance, in Anatolia, parts of the decree have been found in Pergamon, Aizanoi, Aphrodias, Stratonikeia, and Halicarnassus.

The entire edict consists of 37 parts, and the Museum of Halicarnassus proudly exhibits part 9 and a bit of part 10. Today, Aphrodisias claims to have unearthed the complete list that was inscribed on the façade of the Civil Basilica. With restoration works in progress, archaeologists hope to reassemble the entire decree inside the building, where future visitors will be able to see it. It is written in Greek, but authorities plan to make the text available in Latin, English, and Turkish translations.

This will certainly shed extra light on the social and economic life of Diocletian’s days. The list mentions such a range of items as the travel fee from Alexandria to Rome, the ostrich fee, or the price for a rabbit’s belly fur.

Moreover, I remember having seen this edict of Diocletian in Ptolemais (modern Libya). It was found on the Via Porticata, the Monument Street, which corresponded to the Decumanus. The panel that was retrieved here is slightly damaged and is now exhibited at the local Museum of Ptolemais. There must be many other such places, but it is not easy to track them down.

Finding such legislation all over the Roman Empire clearly shows their widespread organizational skills. It makes me wonder whether such a law existed before, maybe already in Hellenistic times.

Aphrodisias, the city of Aphrodite (Turkey)

The city of Aphrodisias was founded in the 5^th century BC and was built on top of a settlement from the Bronze Age. It developed as a Hellenistic city to reach its heyday under the Roman Empire, between the 1^st century BC and the 4^th century AD. Aphrodisias became known as Stavropolis in the 6^th century AD. As the capital of Caria, it was called Caria, which in turn became Geyre in Turkish. The ancient city disappeared after the 13^th century when it was buried by repeated earthquakes.

After its first excavations in 1904, steady diggings were carried out from the 1960s onward, exposing a great part of Aphrodisias. The Temple of Aphrodite is still in good condition, thanks to the fact that it was converted into a Christian Basilica. Over the years, the Tetrapylon (200 AD), the entrance to the great temple, was re-erected; and the Bouleuterion (2^nd-3^rd century AD), as well as the Stadium that could receive as many as 30,000 spectators, belong to the best-preserved examples in the eastern Mediterranean. As so often, the Baths of Hadrian have survived in pretty good condition together with a wonderful Sebasteion.

The main feature, which is quite unique, is the huge pool, which is set amidst a park. It is 30 meters long and 1.70 meters wide, with an overall depth of one meter. The park is the only one ever recovered from Roman times and stands out with its mixture of trees, architecture, and water. This pool was a true statement to show the power of Aphrodisias, even if the city was not that big. Research has revealed many inscriptions and graffiti with religious motives and mind games that the people left around the pool as they met and socialized. A water channel ran around the pool to ensure water circulation and, thus, keep the pool clean. Palm trees stood inside this channel as well as around the pool itself. This special pool has been placed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO, although the excavations will not be completed until next year.

Aphrodisias was known, above all, as a center for the arts. Its School of Sculpture followed a style of its own, and statues from the city’s workshops have been found all over the Roman world, from as far as Spain to modern Germany.

[Picture of the Tetrapylon is from Wikipedia; the picture of the pool is from the Hurriyet Daily News] 

From Bodrum to Marmaris. Sunflower Guide

Just like the Sunflower Guide covering Antalya to Demre, this is another wonderful book in the same series.

Bodrum to Marmaris (ISBN 978-1856913683) generally covers the area known as Caria in which the coastal cities of Bodrum and Marmaris are central. Additionally, the book also provides a guide to Ephesus and Aphrodisias although this historical sites are much further to the north and no longer part of Caria. Again, we find plenty of useful hints about food and lodging, but also about the signs to look for while getting where you want to go. The sightseeing is arranged around several walks: Bodrum and the wider peninsula above the city, the Gulf of Gökova with Cleopatra’s Beach, Marmaris and surroundings including the Bozburun Peninsula, Datça and the Dorian Peninsula and finally excursions to Pamukkale and Hierapolis, Aphrodisias and even to Ephesus. A beautiful fold-out map of Caria is attached to the back cover providing clear detailed maps along the way.

Besides that, it contains an extensive introduction with all kinds of practical information, such as phone area codes, newspapers, buses, events, shopping, cafés, restaurants, night-life, laundry services, police, entrance fees and opening hours of the archaeological sites and parks, you just name it. A comprehensive history of Turkey and a list of useful Turkish words make this guide complete.

The book is a high standard teamwork of Michael Bussman and Gabriele Tröger, with walks by Brian and Eileen Anderson and Dean Livesley. The seasoned traveller can even check their online update service to make sure he/she has the most recent information when planning a trip to Caria.

Turkey beyond the Maeander by George Bean

"Turkey beyond the Maeander" (ISBN 0719547652) is simply the best and most complete book one can find about southwestern Turkey, in spite of the fact that information about accessibility and state of the excavations may be outdated since George Bean died in 1977.

George Bean is a legend in this country where everybody seems to know him, has met him, or their parents, relatives, or neighbors have. He was a broad-shouldered man of almost six feet tall and that alone was enough to impress whoever saw him. But apparently he had a most pleasant character and unlike today’s hurried archaeologists, he would simply make his way to the local coffee-house for a chat with the villagers about their daily business, the harvest and their way of living. Slowly winning their confidence, he then would bring up his interest in archaeology with surprising results.

He definitely loved this country and his deep interest for its past transpires through every line. It is surprising to discover how much history, facts, and figures he manages to cram in the story of each town he describes, while at the same time, he keeps things simple enough to make it passionate reading. Clear drawings, often just a few lines, illustrate his vivid tales and the book is further enhanced with a handful of black-and-white pictures. No bombastic language that only an initiate can decipher, but plain words and sentences we can all understand.

In this book, George Bean mainly covers Caria in southwestern Turkey, where King Mausolos and his dynasty were leading figures and the main cities were Mylasa (today’s Mylas) and Halicarnassus (today’s Bodrum). Yet George Bean mentions about every single city and town. As a bonus, he has even extended his story as far as Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, and Tralles, which are in fact situated beyond the northern border of Caria.

Besides his “Turkey beyond the Maeander”, George Bean wrote another three books, “Aegean Turkey”, “Lycian Turkey”, and “Turkey’s Southern Shore”. You may have a hard time finding any of them though; the best chance is a secondhand acquisition. Each and every one of these books is a precious tool and an unequaled jewel very much worth the effort looking for.