Afyonkarahisar Archaeological Museum
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The Afyonkarahisar Archaeological Museum ( tr, Afyonkarahisar Arkeoloji Müzesi), also known as the Afyon Museum, is an
archaeological museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...
in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. It exhibits a wide variety of artifacts from the
Copper Age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and  ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
, Bronze Age and the civilizations of Hittites,
Phrygians The Phrygians (Greek: Φρύγες, ''Phruges'' or ''Phryges'') were an ancient Indo-European speaking people, who inhabited central-western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) in antiquity. They were related to the Greeks. Ancient Greek authors used ...
, Ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire.


Background

The initiative to establish a museum in Afyonkarahisar and to record the province's chronicle goes back to 1928 when in the early years of the Republic studies were carried out initially by the "Lovers of Artifacts Society" ( ota, Âsar-ı Atika Muhibleri Cemiyeti) and later by the "Community Center" ( tr, Halkevi). Following the efforts led by the society's president Süleyman Hilmi (Gönçer), a teacher, and his colleague Oğuz (Günel), artifacts collected from various archaeological sites were stored up in the vacant Gedik Ahmed Pasha Madrasa, (Taş Medrese, "Stone Madrasa"). As the number of objects grew up, the idea emerged for the establishment of a museum. In 1931, the museum was founded in the form of an office, and Süleyman Hilmi (Gönçer) was appointed as its supervisor. In 1933, the museum was opened, and he became its first director. Under his leadership, it then rose up to the status of a regional museum. With the support of the Community Center, he collected archaeological artifacts from the provinces Uşak, Burdur,
Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey and the capital of Isparta Province. The city's population was 222,556 in 2010 and its elevation is 1035 m. It is known as the "City of Roses". Isparta is well-connected to other parts of Turkey via roads. Ant ...
and
Aydın Aydın ( ''EYE-din''; ; formerly named ''Güzelhisar'', Ancient and Modern Greek: Τράλλεις /''Tralleis''/) is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of B ...
, as well as
ethnographical Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
items from the provinces of Aydın and
Kütahya Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate) ...
for the museum. In 1935, the museum made a name with archaeological excavations and finds at the
Kusura, Sandıklı Kusura is a village in the Sandıklı District Sandıklı District is a district of Afyonkarahisar Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Sandıklı.
Tumulus. The importance of the museum rose further with the great number of artifacts collected, their big dimensions and also their property of being unique or in groups. When archaeologist Hasan Tahsin Uçankuş came to the city in 1964, he started to apply methods of contemporary and scientific archaeology as well as of museumology. Consequently, the need of a new museum with archaeological emphasis emerged, and the museum was moved to its current place in 1971 as a regional museum or the Museum of
Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
losing its mixed type. In the early years, only
Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
and Konya owned such museums in the near region. The status of the Afyonkarahisar Museum fell from regional to provincial after museums were opened in the neighboring cities. However, it is still one of the biggest museums in the country, and maintains its attraction at international level. The museum is housed today in a one-story building, which consists of nine interconnected exhibition halls, five office rooms, a library and a conference hall. In addition, five depots, a photography workshop and a laboratory are situated in the basement.


Exhibits

The time span of the museum exhibits reach around 5000 years from the Bronze Age until today. The artifacts are from the Chalcolithic Age, Bronze Age and the civilizations of Hittites, Phrygians, Ancient Greece and Byzantine Empire collected from
excavation Excavation may refer to: * Excavation (archaeology) * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Memo ...
s at around 40 tumuli and 20
ancient cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the region. Various sculptures, architectural elements, large
earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
,
stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
s, sarcophagi as well as gravestones from the
Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...
and Ottoman Era are also on display in the big backyard of the museum. Its coin collection, well-preserved statues of Ancient Greek
deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
and cutting and lethal tools enhances the importance of the museum. The archaeological items exhibited in the building are organized in chronological order. Many Turkish-
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic items can not be displayed due to insufficient space in the museum building. Currently, the museum owns a total of 44,383 objects, including 13,276 archaeological, 4,484 ethnographical, 26,252 coins, 26 archive documents and 33 hand-written books.


Access

The museum is located in downtown Afyonkarahisar, in the Kurtuluş Cad. 96. It is open between 8:30 and 17:30 local time, but closed on Mondays.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afyonkarahisar Archaeological Museum Afyonkarahisar Museums in Afyonkarahisar Museums established in 1933 1933 establishments in Turkey