Istanbul Archaeological Museums

Introduction
Most Important Objects of The Museum
1. Kadesh Peace Treaty
2. The Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great
3. Through the Ages Istanbul
4. The Sarcophaguses of the Roman Emperors

1. Introduction

If you like Archeology, the place to go in Istanbul is the Archeology Museums in Istanbul. These 3 separate buildings are the places you can learn about not only the history of Istanbul but also the history of Turkey and its neighbors. It is one of the oldest museums in Istanbul with an opening date of 1891. Including one original building of the Topkapi Palace, this museum is a must-to-see for everyone enjoying history. Here is a short history of the Archeology Museums in Istanbul;

The first archeology studies started in the late 19th century in the Ottoman Empire. The first excavations were given to foreign archeologists and there were not a lot of rules and regulations about the field. Technically, whatever was found back then was brought outside of Turkey even sometimes with the permission of the Sultan as a gift. This started changing with a famous name in the Turkish archeology world. Osman Hamdi Bey.

Osman Hamdi Bey was born in Istanbul in the year 1842. At a young age, when his family realized he had a talent for painting, his father wanted him to study in Europe. He went to France and started studying law but at the same time, he had the chance to meet with the famous artists of the time. When he returned back to Istanbul, he was appointed to several government institutions. After he retired, he started making some of his famous paintings. Later on, he was appointed one more time by the Sultan of the time to the management of Archeology Museums. He made incredible efforts for creating laws and regulations about archeology studies in Turkey. One of the most important ones he achieved was that he stopped archeological finding to leave Turkey. In the time he worked as the head of the museums, the museums were awarded by a lot of foundations and governments outside of Turkey. He also worked as an archeologist himself. The most important excavation he completed was the one in Lebanon, in an ancient site called ''Sayda''. This was the place that he found the famous ''The sarcophagus of Alexander the Great''.

Today the museums consist of 3 separate buildings divided according to the time of the findings. The first building on the left side after the entry is the building you can see the findings from different parts of Turkey and neighboring countries. The name of the building is ''the findings from the Ancient Civilizations.'' The second building to the right is the main building of the museum which was the work of the famous architect in the late 19th century, Alexandre Vallaury. This is the section you can see findings from Istanbul in a collection called ''Istanbul through the ages''. This is also the place to see Greek and Roman sculptures, sarcophaguses with different styles, and the findings of Osman Hamdi Bey. The highlight here is the ''Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great''. The third building is the oldest building within this building complex that is functioning as the tile museum. The building itself goes back to the 15th century to the time of Mehmed the 2nd.

2. Most Important Objects of The Museum

If you are an archeology person, one day is not going to be enough but here is the list of the most important objects.

2.1 Kadesh Peace Treaty

This is the oldest peace treaty that is discovered in the world. It was signed in the 13th century BC between the New Kingdom of Egypt and the Hittite Empires. Being the superpowers of the time, these two great empires met in the Kadesh, which is today Syria and Lebanon border, and they couldn't beat each other. As a result, they made a peace treaty and returned back. The agreement was recorded in the Akkadian language which was a common language back then. Today, you can see a bigger copy of the treaty in the United Nations building in New York.

2.2 The Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great

While the name of the sarcophagus is Alexander the Great and this is one of the most important objects of the museum, this doesn't belong to the famous king of Macedonia. As there are the decorations of one of the most important battles of the king, it takes the name but the one who was buried inside was another king with the name Abdalonymos. One of the crucial battles of Alexander was the one against the Persians in Issos in the year 333. After the victory in the battlefield, Alexander's army moved to Syria without any other major problem. This battle was also important for Abdalonymos. After this battle, he became the king of the ancient city Sayda. Most probably, this was the reason for the decoration of the battle in his sarcophagus.

2.3 Through the Ages Istanbul

One of the most complete records of the city of Istanbul is in this collection. The findings start from the very beginning which is roughly 500.000 BC, until the 19th century AD. You can see the chronology starting from the simple cave finding to the most complex water transfer systems of the Romans. This is also the place to see destroyed churches, mosques, and palaces from the Roman and Ottoman Era with different reasons. One of the highlights of this collection is to see the piece of the chain that was closing the entrance of the Bosphorus.

2.4 The Sarcophaguses of the Roman Emperors

There is a big collection of sarcophaguses in the museum but the most interesting ones are the ones of the Roman emperors. They are mainly done out of a rare stone called porphyry and these are rare examples to see in Istanbul. Porphyry is a volcanic stone and really rare in Turkey to find. For this reason, that was a royal material to use in the Roman Era. Even the Roman emperors were using that in their clothes which was the sign of royalty. The title ''Porphyrygenetus'', born in a porphyry room was a title even for some of the emperors in history.