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”.

About decrees and multilingual inscriptions

In antiquity, news was carried by word of mouth, but legal matters and other important information were cut in stone and placed in a conspicuous spot for everyone to see. 

The majority of inscriptions are Decrees of which I can only mention a selection. 

At the Acropolis Museum, there is a stele with decrees for the construction of the temple and altar of Nike by Kallikrates, for the reorganization of the cult, and for the salary of the priestess of the goddess dated 427-424 BC (side A) and 424-423 BC (side B).

Also a stele with a series of Decrees by which the Athenians bestowed economic, commercial, and military privileges on their ally Methone in Pieria. 

It shows the goddess Athena shaking hands with perhaps Artemis, dated 430-423 BC.

Very broken but still readable is the Athenian Decree honoring Neapolis (modern Kavala) for its support in the war against Thasos and its constant commitment to her. 

In the upper right corner, we recognize the goddess Athena extending her hand towards another figure, probably the goddess Parthenos of Neapolis, dated from 410-409 BC.

A very elegant stele with a horse and an olive wreath carries an inscription in which the Athenians honored King Alcetas of Epirus for his help during their military expedition to Corcyra (modern Corfu) in 373-372 BC.

And finally, still at the Acropolis Museum, there is the long Decree of Chalkis on the island of Euboia in which the islanders were forced to swear loyalty to Athens after failing in their revolt of 446-445 BC. 

The people of Chalkis could punish their own citizens, except in cases that involved death, exile, or the loss of their rights as citizens, where the power of Athens prevailed.

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens has its own rich collection of Decrees. A good example is the honorary inscription from Piraeus dating from 347-346 BC. 

The stele honors the three sons of Leukon (depicted), king of the Cimmerian Bosporus, thanking them for services rendered to the people of Athens and allowing them to import grain free of duty.

A particular stele from 355-354BC was found near the Monument of Lysicrates in Athens. 

It honors Philiskos, son of Lykos of Sestos in the Thracian Hellespont as a public guest and benefactor of Athens. In 356 BC, Philiskos had warned the Athenians of the hostile presence of the fleet of Byzantium that threatened the city’s grain supply.

The Eleusis Museum, in turn, exhibits a decree providing for the construction of a footbridge across Lake Rheitoi on the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, dated 421 BC.

Two fragments from an unidentified monument carry a Royal Decree of Alexander, which defines the limits of ‘land’, meaning the agricultural area that Philippi supervised. 

The (partial) inscription dates from 336-334 BC, just before Alexander started his campaign East. It is kept at the Museum of Philippi.

On a different level, there is a Decree sanctioning the people and city of Iasos for conspiring against King Mausolos of Caria. 

It is kept at the Louvre in Paris and dates to 370-350 BC. 

 

The Foundation Decree of Cyrene in North Africa is a covenant between the citizens of Cyrene in ca. 322 BC and those of their mother-state of Thera. 

The exact purpose is uncertain, but it is thought that the citizens of Thera, including the early settlers of 631 BC, were granted the same rights and freedoms as the Cyreneans, even though Cyrene was wealthier than Thera at the time.

Of another level is, for instance, the trilingual stele from Letoon in the Xanthos Valley found near the Temple of Apollo. It holds a public Decree authorizing the cult of the deities and establishing the provisions for its officers.
The Decree is written in Lycian, Greek, and Aramaic, which are not verbatim translations of each other. Each version contains information that is not translated into the two other tongues. The Aramaic text with 27 lines is the shortest, followed by Greek with 35 lines, and Lycian with 51 lines. Useless to point out that this stele helped to decipher the peculiar Lycian language. This unique document can be seen at the Fethiye Museum.

The story of this stele reminds us of the Rosetta Stone, which helped to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Demotic script using the Greek version carved on the same stone. The text is a Decree issued by King Ptolemy V of Egypt in 196 BC and was key to deciphering the hitherto unknown hieroglyphic signs. 

Trilingual inscriptions are not isolated cases. In ancient Persia, it was a common practice to leave inscriptions in three languages to make sure everyone in the vast empire would be notified: Elamite, Old Persian, and Babylonian. The best-known lines are carved on the cliff wall of Bisutun, where Darius I celebrates his victory over Gaumata and eight more pretenders to the throne in 518 BC, as represented above.

The trilingual inscriptions on the Palace walls of Pasargadae and Persepolis are mainly continuous reminders of the power of the King of Kings who ruled by the grace of Ahuramazda, repeating their title of Great King. These were defined in full by Cyrus the Great: Great King, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Corners of the World.

Perhaps the most remarkable panels are set in the spectacular landscape close to the fast-running mountain river and lovely waterfalls of Ganj Nameh, some five kilometers southwest of Hamadan. As is customary, each text starts by praising Ahuramazda and continues describing the lineage and deeds of Darius I on the left panel and his son Xerxes on the right. It reads: "The Great God [is] Ahuramazda, greatest of all the gods, who created the earth and the sky and the people; who made Xerxes king, and outstanding king as outstanding ruler among innumerable rulers; I [am] the great king Xerxes, king of kings, king of lands with numerous inhabitants, king of this vast kingdom with far-away territories, son of the Achaemenid monarch Darius." (see: The Bisutun relief of King Darius I).

I’d like to close with the impressive Monument of Opramoas in Rhodiapolis. He was a great benefactor who contributed lavishly to the reconstruction of most Lycian cities after the devastating earthquake of 141 AD. He must have been terribly wealthy, for it seems that every single Lycian city mentioned his name in thanks. The construction blocks of the Monument listing his good deeds were strewn over a wide area until, in 2016, archaeologists managed to sort them out and reconstruct the walls of his Monument (see: The Monument in honor of Opramoas of Rhodiapolis is taking shape).

Its text, the longest ever found in Lycia or perhaps even in all of Anatolia, contains 12 letters Opramoas exchanged with the Roman Emperors and Antoninus Pius in particular, 19 letters to the Roman Procurator, and 33 various documents related to the Lycian League. 

The reasons for leaving an inscription widely vary, and the list is endless. I stopped at a few of the most telling examples that caught my attention.

An example of the heavy traffic in the Mediterranean

Recent underwater explorations of the Bay of Fethiye, ancient Telmessus, led to discovering a heap of amphorae of the Rhodian type. 

[Picture from Daily Sabag]

The shipwreck was found at a depth of 28 meters and only 20 meters from the shore. The remains of amphorae indicated the place of the wreck that occurred in the 3rd century AD. This dating was based on the shape of the amphorae whose spur-handles are typical for the last type produced in Rhodes. It has been labeled as the latest example from the Roman era. 

At that time, Rhodes was a major harbor and entertained intense trade relations with other cities around the Mediterranean and Asia Minor in particular. 

It has been estimated that this merchant ship, of which nothing remains, was between 20 and 30 meters long, and it probably sank during a storm. 

It is known that storms are the primary cause for ships to run aground. So far, approximately 40 shipwrecks from antiquity have been identified in the Turkish waters.

Oenoanda in the heartland of Lycia

Oenoanda or Oinoanda lies only some 60 kilometers from Fethiye, right next to the modern village of İncealiler. It is one of those untouched sites, clearly off the beaten path of which there are many in Turkey. Such places are always very rewarding to be discovered and to be explored. It is so remote that even a seasoned archaeologist like Cevdet Bayburtluoglu strongly recommends not to venture there by yourself but to take a caretaker or a villager with you to be safe from sheepdogs. These dogs are fiercely defending and protecting the flock of sheep and goats they are supposed to guard and they readily attack any intruder. No kidding!

The climb up from İncealiler to Oenoanda takes about an hour over rough terrain. It seems that, apart from a few days in 1997, the Turkish authorities never allowed the city to be excavated. Yet, that does not make the site less exciting because one can discover it as we walk on.

[Picture: Ansgar Bovet, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

The most striking feature in the landscape is, as always, the theater that sits higher up the hill overlooking the valley below and offers a dramatic view of the Taurus Mountains. It has been cut out of the rock and its plan closely resembles that of Myra or Phaselis, for instance.

Inside the city walls, of which many stretches are easily spotted, we find the remains of the ancient city. Unfortunately, these have not been properly documented and only the most striking features catch the eye.

A well-recognizable avenue leads from the theater to the Agora. It has been compared to Harbor Street at Phaselis as it is bordered by two steps on either side. The Agora, which is entirely paved with marble, is another prominent feature. The surrounding buildings have not been identified although we may presume based on the broken columns and stones that there was at least one temple erected alongside as is customary. A series of three distinct arches has been identified as belonging to a Library.

Otherwise, bits of columns, capitals, architraves, cornices, pedestals and stones of all sizes with or without inscriptions are scattered around in great numbers. Another recognizable element in the rubble is the broken pipes and remains of an aqueduct that must have run all the way to the Baths in the northeastern corner of Oenoanda.

The origins of Oenoanda are rather obscure but based on its name which contains the letters “-nd” the foundation could go back as far as the 2^nd millennium BC. In any case, it has been documented that Oenoanda was part of a tetrapolis annexed to Lycia. Together with Kibyra, Oenoanda became part of the Lycian League which was formed in the early 2^nd century BC and they acquired two votes each. The six main cities: Xanthos, Pinara, Tlos, Patara, Myra, and Olympos were the administrative, judicial, military, financial, and religious centers and each received three votes in the meetings of the League.

Pending serious excavations, no evidence has been found about the pre-Hellenistic Era of Oenoanda.

The city gained importance it seems, after the severe earthquake of 144 AD, when they received 10,000 denarii from Opramoas of Rhodiapolis (see: Opramoas of Rhodiapolis) to construct a Bath. It may sound strange because its own citizen, Licinius Langus of Oenoanda donated 10,000 denarii to Myra in order to rebuild their theater and its portico. He could have invested in the reconstruction of his home tome in the first place, no?

Another famous citizen of Oenoanda was the wealthy philosopher Diogenes, who spent his entire fortune on an Epicurean inscription. He had found peace of mind in the teachings of Epicurus and in order to show the people in Oenoanda the road to happiness, he commissioned an inscription 80 meters long and more than 3 meters high which set out Epicurean doctrines in about 25,000 words.  The huge inscription was placed in the agora and its large inscribed letters were painted - nobody could miss seeing them. At that time, in 120 AD, it would have been the largest ancient inscription ever found. The text included a number of instructions, letters, and epitomes defining the basic principles of Epicuraeism. In other words, a guide to happiness.

Unfortunately, the wall disappeared. It may have been deliberately destroyed or hit by an earthquake, but the scattered blocks were mostly reused as building material elsewhere. The wall with whatever remained of Oenoanda fell into oblivion, probably during the 9^th century AD.

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, many fragments of this precious inscription were found, analyzed and partially put back together like a giant puzzle. That is a gigantic task that is still ongoing.

Oenoanda is surrounded by necropolises on all sides. Rock graves typically appear on both the east and west sides of the city and from the road between İncealiler and Oenoanda many sarcophagi, mostly of the Lycian type, are easily spotted in the landscape.

Andriake’s Museum has opened

The opening of this museum in Andriake, inside the walls of Hadrian’s Granary (131 AD), was announced a while ago (see: Time to revisit Andriake, the harbor of Myra) and is now a fact.

It has been baptized as The Lycian Civilizations Museum as it not only contains local finds from Myra and Andriake but from the entire region of Lycia, roughly situated at the southern coast of Turkey between Fethiye and Finike. Except for the coastal cities, Lycia has been very little explored but offers a great number of sites that flourished when they joined hands in the Lycian League founded in the early days of the 2nd century BC. The League had a Parliament of its own, the first ever in history, that was located at Patara. This kind of government may well have inspired modern democracy.

More than one thousand artifacts excavated in cities like Myra, Andriake, Patara, Xanthos, Tlos, Arykanda, Pinara, Antiphellos, and Olympos have found a home in one of the seven rooms of this former Granary. Among the exhibits are statues, vessels, other kitchenware, glassware, and jewelry.

The site of Andriake itself has been cleared further and has become part of the open-air museum with its harbor, the agora with an underground water cistern, a Roman bath, and a boat, as well as the remains of several churches and even a Jewish temple.

More information about the Lycian League can be found in my earlier blog: A short history of Lycia.