The Istanbul Archaeology Museums () are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

. These museums house over one million objects from nearly all periods and civilizations in world history. The Istanbul Archaeology Museums consists of three museums: #Archaeological Museum, located in the main building # Museum of the Ancient Orient # Museum of Islamic Art, housed in the Tiled Kiosk

Background

The origins of the museum can be traced back to the nearby Hagia Irene Church. After the conquest of Istanbul, the church's location close to the barracks of the

Janissaries A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...

saw it transformed into a de facto 'inner arsenal' for storing their weapons ( Turkish: ''İç'' ''Cebehane''). By 1726, during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III, it functioned as a full-fledged armory known as ''Dar''-''ül'' ''Esliha'' ( Turkish: ''House of Weapons''). By the 19th century, the church was also being used to store the varied artifacts amassed by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Sultan

Abdülaziz Abdulaziz (; ; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 1876 Ottoman coup d'état, overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother ...

(r. 1861–1876) was impressed by the archaeological museums in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(30 June – 10 July 1867),

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(12–23 July 1867) and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(28–30 July 1867) which he visited in the summer of 1867, and ordered a similar archaeological museum to be established in Istanbul. It was then, in 1869, that the church and the works in it were inaugurated by decree under the name of Imperial Museum (

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

: or ). As such, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum is often considered the "first museum of Turkey".

History

Due to space constraints, the museum and its collection was transferred to the Tiled Kiosk ( Turkish: ''Çinili Köşk'') between 1875 and 1891. Commissioned by Sultan

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

in 1472 as a pleasure palace, it is the oldest non-religious Ottoman structure in Istanbul and retains a visible Persian influence in its style and architecture It was first opened to the public in 1953 as the Fatih Museum, to showcase Turkish and Islamic art, and was later incorporated into the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Appointed to the role in 1881, the first

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and founder of the museum was

Osman Hamdi Bey Osman Hamdi Bey (30 December 1842 – 24 February 1910) was an Ottoman Turkish administrator, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering painter. He was the Ottoman Empire's first modern archaeologist, and is regarded as the ...

, Painter, Archeologist and son of İbrahim Edhem Pasha, an Ottoman Grand Vizier. An accomplished artist, in 2019 his painting ''Girl Reading the Quran'' sold for 6.3 million British pounds, making it the most expensive Turkish painting at that time. Throughout the 19th century, the existing importance given by the European states to historical artifacts gradually began to be understood by the Ottoman Empire as well. Thereunto arose the issue of establishing a method of regulating these cultural assets. Up to that point in time, 'historical artifacts' in the Ottoman Empire were subject to the common principles of

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

. The absence of specific regulations for preserving historical artifacts in effect created a legal void surrounding aspects such as the definition of historical artifacts, along with where and how they would be preserved. This changed in 1869, when the first set of laws were enacted that outlined the regulation of antiquities. Modern conservation experts refer to this as the first 'protection law' issued by the Ottoman State, focusing on permissions to carry out excavations and related artifact management. According to this law, the owner of land on which an excavation was conducted could claim possession of the finds discovered. While it was illegal to take such relics abroad, they could be bought and sold within domestic borders and the state held the principal right to buy them. With this imperial decree for protecting cultural goods now being enforced, provincial governors throughout the Ottoman Empire would send in found artefacts to the capital city, thus further growing the collection. With subsequent major finds being discovered shortly thereafter, e.g. excavation of the necropolis of King Sidon in modern-day Lebanon, it soon became clear that a purpose-built building large enough to house the growing museum collection was required. Pediment of Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Pediment of Istanbul Archaeological Museum

The construction of the main building was started by Hamdi Bey in 1881, with its official opening held on June 13, 1891. The architect was Alexander Vallaury who also designed the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul. The facade of the building was inspired by the Alexander Sarcophagus and Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women, both housed inside the museum. The inscription in Ottoman Turkish on the pediments of the gates at the entrance of the museum says ''Asar-ı Atika Müzesi''" ( English: ''Museum of Antiquities''). The tughra on the inscription belongs to Sultan Abdulhamid II. The building is considered by many as the preeminent example of neoclassical style architecture in Istanbul. Upon its 100th anniversary in 1991, the museum received the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

Museum Award, particularly for the renovations made to the lower floor halls in the main building and the new displays in the other buildings. The Museum of the Ancient Orient was commissioned by Osman Hamdi Bey in 1883 as a fine arts school. Then it was reorganised as a museum, which opened in 1935. Collections are relating to Anatolian history, including the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, Assyrian Colony Period, Hittite, Neo-Hittite, Urartian,

Aramean The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered ce ...

, as well as

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ...

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

and Ancient Arabian cultures. The Egyptian collection comprises approximately 1,200 items, featuring artifacts representing various forms of Egyptian art. Most of them had come from ''Dra Abu al Nagar'' excavations near

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

excavated by Gautier in 1891. Other items were gifts from the Khedives of Egypt and Ottoman officers. Mesopotamian artifacts are 10,000 pieces that came from ''

Assur Aššur (; AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; ''Āšūr''; ''Aθur'', ''Āšūr''; ', ), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Midd ...

'', ''

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

'', ''

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

'', '' Girsu'', ''

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

'', '' Shurupak'', ''

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...

'', ''

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

'' excavations. Palestinian objects are from '' Tell Gezer'', ''Tell Zakarijah'', ''Tell el-Hesi'', ''Tell Taannek'', ''Tell Sandahanna'', ''Megiddo'' and ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

'' excavations in Ottoman times. Several

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

vases were purchased from French excavators.

Gallery

File:Si427o.jpg, Si.427 obverse, dates from the Old Babylonian period between 1900 and 1600 BCE. Discovered in the late 19th century in what is now

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. File:Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museums 2024 (1).jpg, The Alexander Sarcophagus, found at the Royal necropolis of Ayaa in

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

File:Treaty of Kadesh.jpg, The

Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty The Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty, also known as the Eternal Treaty or the Silver Treaty, was concluded between Ramesses II of the Egyptian Empire and Ḫattušili III of the Hittite Empire around 1259 BC. It is the oldest known surviving pea ...

File:Lycian sarcophagus.jpg, Lycian sarcophagus of Sidon in

Parian marble Parian marble is a fine-grained, semi translucent, and pure-white marble quarried during the classical antiquity, classical era on the Greece, Greek List of islands of Greece, island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. A subtype, referred to as Parian ' ...

from the Royal necropolis of Ayaa in

File:Pediment Temple.JPG, Pediment and shafts of a temple File:View in the Collection of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.jpg,

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

exhibition of the museum File:Hagios Georgios Monastery fragments Istanbul (2).JPG, Icon with relief

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

at prayer File:Statue of emperor Valentinian II.JPG, Statue of

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Valentinian II Valentinian II (; 37115 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman Empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, ...

File:Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Alessandro Magno (firmata Menas) - sec. III a.C. - da Magnesia - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006 01.jpg, Statue of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

File:Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Puzur Ishtar, governatore di Mari (fine 3o mill aC) - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg, Puzur Ishtar, governor of Mari File:Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Rilievo da porta di Ishtar a Babilonia (604-562 a.C.) - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg, Glazed brick panel from way to

Ishtar Gate The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon (in the area of present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq). It was constructed by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. It was part of a grand walled proce ...

File:Keystone Constantine Forum Istanbul.JPG, Keystone that was probably a part of the

Forum of Constantine The Forum of Constantine (; ) was built at the foundation of Constantinople immediately outside the old city walls of Byzantium. It marked the centre of the new city, and was a central point along the Mese, the main ceremonial road through the c ...

File:Tabnit sarcophagus.jpg, Tabnit sarcophagus in

Diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is Intermediate composition, inter ...

from the Royal necropolis of Ayaa in

File:Shiloach.jpg, Siloam Inscription File:Istanbul - Museo archeologico - Sarcofagi imperiali bizantini - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg, Porphyry sarcophagi of

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

s File:Sarcophagi Byzantine emperors Istanbul (11).JPG, A fragment of a Byzantine sarcophagus that is believed to belong to

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

Collection

The museum has a large collection of Turkish,

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

artifacts, many gathered from the vast former territories of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The five most prominent artifacts exhibited in the museum include: *The ornate sarcophagi from the Royal necropolis of Ayaa in

: **The Alexander Sarcophagus, found in the Ayaa necropolis of

. Once believed to be prepared for

, is among the most famous pieces of ancient art in the museum. ** Sarcophagus of the mourning women, also found in the Ayaa necropolis of Sidon (in fact, the sarcophagus of Strato I, king of Sidon) **The Tabnit sarcophagus **The Sarcophagus of the Satrap **The Lycian sarcophagus of Sidon *Glazed tile images from the

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

*Statues from ancient antiquity until the end of the

Roman Era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, from Aphrodisias,

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

and

Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...

*Statue of an Ephebos *Statue of

Apollo Citharoedus An Apollo Citharoedus, or Apollo Citharede, is a statue or other image of Apollo with a cithara (lyre). Notable examples Vatican Among the best-known examples is the ''Apollo Citharoedus'', also known as Apollo Musagetes ("Apollo, Leader of the ...

from

*Parts of statues from the Temple of Zeus found at Bergama *A marble lion from the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the few pieces remaining in Turkey *Snake's head from the Serpentine Column erected in the

Hippodrome of Constantinople The Hippodrome of Constantinople (; ; ) was a Roman circus, circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square (). The word ...

*Mother-Goddess

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

and votive stelai *Busts of

and

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

*Fragments from the temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

Assos Assos (; , ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city near today's Behramkale () or Behram for short, which most people still call by its ancient name of Assos. It is located on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast in the Ayvacık, Çanakkale, Ayvac ...

*The

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

exhibit *800,000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations and medals *One tablet with the oldest known law-collection, the laws of king Ur-Nammu *Two of the three tablets of the

(1258 BCE), signed between

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

of Egypt and

Hattusili III Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings: * Hattusili I (Labarna II) * Hattusili II * Hattusili III It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings: * Hattusili I (Kummuh) * Hattus ...

of the Hittite Empire. It is the oldest known peace treaty in the world, and a giant poster of these tablets containing the treaty is on the wall of the

United Nations Headquarters The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. *The

Saba'a Stele The Saba'a Stele, also known as the Saba'a Inscription, is a boundary stone inscription of the reign of Adad-nirari III (811 to 783 BC) discovered in 1905 in two pieces in Al-Sabaa wa Arbain, Saba'a, Sanjak of Zor, south of the Sinjar Mountains in ...

of the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n king Adad-nirari III *Tablet archive containing some 75,000 documents with

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

inscriptions, including one containing the oldest known love poem, the Istanbul #2461 tablet *Artifacts from the early civilizations of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

* Siloam inscription, which made headlines in July 2007 when Israel asked for its return. * Gezer calendar * Balawat gates, a single gate * Samaria ostraca * Warning inscription from the Second Temple in Jerusalem

References

External links

Istanbul Archaeological Museums

Istanbul Archaeology Museum page
at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism website
Museum of Architecture – Istanbul Archaeology Museum
{{Authority control Archaeological museums in Turkey Fatih Museums established in 1891 Museums in Istanbul National museums in Turkey Museums of ancient Greece in Turkey Museums of ancient Rome in Turkey Egyptological collections Museums of the ancient Near East in Turkey Islamic museums in Turkey

Background

History

Gallery

Collection

See also

References

External links