Konya Arkeoloji Müzesi

The Konya Archaeological Museum is a state museum on Sahip Ata Street, south of the historic centre, displaying the archaeological heritage of Konya and its surroundings from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Turkish Wikipedia describes it as the first archaeological museum founded in Anatolia and the second to open in Turkey after the one in Istanbul. Its founding date is given differently in the sources: the Kültür Portalı and the General Directorate of Museums give 1901, while Wikipedia, relying on the correspondence of the governor Ferid Pasha, takes 1899. According to the General Directorate of Museums the collection was first shown in a small building in a school garden, then moved to the Mevlana Museum in 1927 and to the İplikçi Mosque in 1953. The present building opened in 1962. The museum displays works from the Neolithic, Early Bronze, Middle Bronze, Iron Age, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods in chronological order. Most of the pieces come from excavations at Çatalhöyük, Erbaba, Süberde, Sızma, Karahöyük, Kıcıkışla, Sille, Çumra, Alibeyhöyük and Alaeddin Hill, and from around Lake Beyşehir. This makes the museum the best stop for anyone who wants to see the results of excavations on the Konya Plain in a single place. The prehistoric section holds hand-made terracotta vessels and arrowheads and spearheads of obsidian and flint from the excavations at Çatalhöyük, Erbaba and Süberde. Looking at these cases before or after visiting Çatalhöyük makes it easier to understand what came out of the houses seen at the excavation site. The finds in the Early Bronze Age section come mostly from the excavations at Sızma and Karahöyük. The ribbed terracotta vessels from around Lake Beyşehir represent the typical pottery of the Lakes Region. The Middle Bronze Age section is devoted to finds from Konya Karahöyük, excavated since 1952. Karahöyük was an important station of the trade network that Assyrian merchants set up in Anatolia at the beginning of the second millennium BC. Here one sees a wide variety of wheel-made vessels, animal-shaped vessels, lamps in the shape of bunches of grapes, cylinder seals and bronze rings. The Iron Age section displays figured Phrygian pottery fragments found on Alaeddin Hill and painted Phrygian vessels from Kıcıkışla, north of Karapınar. Lydian vessels and bronze pins belonging to the Urartians are in the same hall. Glossy black imported vessels from Kıcıkışla and a jug decorated in the black-figure technique show how Classical trade reached these inland regions. The museum's most famous piece is the Heracles Sarcophagus in the Roman section. Found in the village of Yunuslar near Beyşehir, this marble sarcophagus is of the columned Sidemara type and, according to the General Directorate of Museums, dates to AD 250-260. Figures set between the columns on its sides show scenes from the life of Heracles. The Kültür Portalı notes that six sarcophagi of fine marble are displayed in the Roman hall. The same section has garlanded sarcophagi from the necropolis of Iconium, a statue of Poseidon, glass tear bottles, perfume flasks, gold rings and earrings. The Byzantine section displays a floor mosaic measuring 6.30 by 3.50 metres, found in the museum's 1990 excavation at Tatköy near Sille. Floor mosaics from the excavations at Alibeyhöyük in Çumra are also in this hall. Bronze door knockers and cauldron handles introduce everyday objects of the period. The portico at the museum entrance holds Byzantine architectural pieces from Sille and central Konya, along with Roman grave stelae. In the front garden, statues, sarcophagi, ash chests, funerary lions and column capitals are displayed in the open air. Among the inscriptions in the garden, those bearing the names of the cities of Iconium, Derbe and Lystra are especially important; Lystra is the ancient name of the place known today as Kilistra. English Wikipedia gives the number of Greek inscriptions in the museum as 231 and of Latin inscriptions as 10. Starting the visit in the garden and then going through the halls in period order makes for an easy flow. Set aside time for the Heracles Sarcophagus; to recognise each of the figures you need to walk slowly around it. The museum is in the Sahibata quarter, about one kilometre south of Alaeddin Hill, and is easily reached on foot from the hill. The Konya Governorship's page states that the museum is open every day except Monday; check current hours and admission conditions on the official website of the General Directorate of Museums.