Archaeological Museum in Antalya

Archaeological Museum in Antalya is one of the best venues of its kind in Turkey. The exhibits shown here come from the archaeological sites from Antalya Province and make a great addition after visiting these places. The most important sites represented in this museum are: Karain cave, ancient city of Perge and the cities of Lykian civilization.

Both the wealth of museum collections and their presentation in spacious, modern interiors encourage the visitors to can spend many hours in this place. The uniqueness of this institution has also been recognized internationally - in 1988 the Council of Europe awarded it with the Museum of the Year Award.

The first museum in Antalya was founded in 1919, just after the First World War. The teacher Süleyman Fikri Erten, who saved many archaeological pieces from looting, decided to create for them an appropriate venue. Initially, the collections were exhibited at the Yivli Minaret mosque, located in the historic Kaleiçi district. In 1972, a new building was constructed, on the western side of the city, and the mosque was transformed into the Ethnographic Museum.

In the garden of the museum there are mainly stone artifacts from the Roman period, which due to their large size could not be accommodated inside the building.

Archaeological Museum in Antalya is located in the south-western part of the city at Konyaaltı Caddesi No:1. The distance to the museum from the historical center of Antalya (i.e. Kaleiçi district) is 2.5 km (1.5 mile).

Next to the museum there is the terminal station of a so-called Nostalji Tramvay (Nostalgic Tramway) line that connects the western districts of Antalya with its historical center and the eastern beach district of Lara. The trams run every half an hour, from 7:00 a.m.to 9:00 pm. The regular ticket costs 1.70 TL.

Archaeological Museum in Antalya is open every day, in summer season (from April to October) from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. In winter season (from November to March) the visiting hours are: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The ticket costs 20 TL (in 2015).

There is a possibility of renting an audio-guide (10 TL) that offers an opportunity to listen to the detailed narratives concerning all museum exhibitions. This system is available in English, Turkish, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. This solution is highly advisable as some of the exhibits have information panels in Turkish only.

Source: https://turkisharchaeonews.net/