Hatay Archaeology Museum in Turkey
The Hatay Archaeology Museum is the archaeology museum of Hatay Province, Turkey. it's known for its extensive collection of Roman and Byzantine Era mosaics. The museum is found in Antakya, the city of Hatay.
Construction of the museum started in 1934 on the advice of the French archaeologist and antiquities inspector Claude M. Prost. It was completely built-in 1938 and came under Turkish control in 1939 following Hatay's unification with Turkey. The museum was opened to the general public in 1948 and re-opened in 1975 following renovation and expansion. The Roman or Byzantine mosaics within the Hatay (Antakya) Archeology.
This Museum is the most attractive place during this city at the far eastern end of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, though the city’s long history has left far more behind. In 2014 the new museum building, with the world’s largest display area for mosaics, is about to open.
History of the Hatay Archaeology Museum
The mosaics, dating from the first to 5th centuries AD, are well displayed. Most labels are in Turkish and English. The museum is open 08:30 am to 12:30 pm and 13:30 to 17:30 (1:30 to 5:30 pm), closed Monday.
The museum was recovered from Antioch ad Orontes (Antakya), the garden suburb of Daphne (now called Harbiye), from Roman Mediterranean seaside villas, and from Tarsus by archeological teams from university within the early decades of the 20th century.
The museum opened to the general public in 1948. The artistry of the mosaics is amazing: look close, and everyone you see is small bits of colored stone. Look from the optimal distance and you see specific images with subtle colors.
The Antakya Arkeoloji Museum
The Antakya Arkeoloji Museum isn't just its Roman mosaics, however. Different halls are referred to other different aspects of Roman and Byzantine culture, with exhibits of marble sarcophagi, coins, pots, tools, glassware, and statuary. You’ll certainly notice the beautifully-carved 8th-century BC twin lions on a column pediment.
Many of those finds were discovered by Chicago Oriental Institute teams engaging at Cüdeyde, Deep, Çatalhöyük and Tainan from 1933 to 1938. Others were contributed by Sir Leonard Woolley, excavating at El Mina in Samandağ and at Tell Atchana (Aççana Höyüğü) between 1936 and 1939.
If you’re fascinated by Roman mosaics, you must also consider a visit to Gaziantep to admire the gorgeous mosaics rescued from ancient Zeugma, now inundated by a man-made lake.