The Museum of Anatolian Civilisations is the great archaeological museum of Ankara and the best place to understand what this land was before the Greeks and Romans: the Neolithic villages of Çatalhöyük, nine thousand years ago; the princes of Alacahöyük with their bronze standards; the Hittite Empire and its reliefs; the Phrygians of King Midas; the Urartians of the east. It is all housed in a restored 15th-century Ottoman bazaar below the citadel, with the largest pieces in the domed hall.
It was named European Museum of the Year in 1997, and it is the visit that puts Hattusa, Cappadocia and the provincial museums into context. You can see it in an hour and a half.
A little history
Atatürk wanted a Hittite museum in the new capital, and in the 1930s two abandoned Ottoman buildings next to the citadel were chosen: the Mahmut Paşa Bedesten, a covered bazaar with ten domes dating from 1471, and the Kurşunlu Han, an inn for travelling merchants. The restoration went on until 1968, and in the meantime the museum kept receiving the finds from the excavations at Alacahöyük, Hattusa, Gordion and Çatalhöyük.
Ever since, it has been the leading museum of ancient Anatolia. It was renovated in 2014, with new displays and a section in the basement devoted to Ankara itself.
What to see at the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations
Çatalhöyük and the Neolithic
Here you’ll find a reconstructed house from Çatalhöyük, entered through the roof and decorated with bull skulls, and the figurine of the mother goddess seated between two leopards, from around 6000 BC, the most reproduced piece in the museum. You can step inside the house. Next to it is the oldest known painting of a landscape, a mural showing a volcano in eruption.
Alacahöyük and the Bronze Age
The royal tombs of Alacahöyük, from around 2500 BC, yielded the bronze sun standards and stags that became the emblem of modern Ankara. They are displayed alongside gold jewellery and metal vessels.
The Hittites
In the central hall, beneath the domes, are the stone reliefs from Carchemish, Alacahöyük and other sites: lions, sphinxes, hunting and banqueting scenes, and the relief of King Sulumeli. Here too are the cuneiform tablets from Hattusa, the archive of an empire, where the script of the treaties sits next to the Hittites’ own hieroglyphs, which they used for seals and monuments; your guide will show you how to tell them apart. This is the heart of the museum.
The Phrygians and Gordion
From the tomb of King Midas at Gordion come the inlaid wooden furniture and bronze cauldrons of the 8th century BC, preserved by the burial mound heaped over them. The Urartians are here too, with their bronzes and belts from the Lake Van region.
The Classical period and the basement
The later rooms hold Roman statues and coins, and the basement has the Ankara section, from prehistory to the Republic, with a model of the Temple of Augustus.
Tips for your visit
Allow an hour and a half. The museum is on two floors with ramps and is air-conditioned, and there is a café in the courtyard of the han.
- You can take photographs without flash.
- Combine it with Ankara Citadel, five minutes’ walk uphill, for the views and the Ottoman houses, then stroll down to the restored Hamamönü quarter, with its shops and cafés.
- If you are travelling with children, head for the Çatalhöyük house, the Hittite lions and King Midas’s furniture.
Tickets and prices
Under the official 2027 rates published at the time of writing (2026), entry is €13. On my tours the ticket is either included or I arrange it for you.
Where it is and how to get there
The museum stands at the foot of Ankara Citadel, in the Ulus district, ten minutes by taxi from Anıtkabir and from Kızılay in the city centre. By metro, get off at Ulus and walk uphill for about ten minutes.
How I include it in my tours
In Ankara it is the afternoon visit, after a morning at Anıtkabir. It is also a stop on the archaeological routes that continue to Hattusa, such as the Archaeological Anatolia tour. My Classic Türkiye 10 Days tour flies to Cappadocia, but it can be adapted to travel by road through Ankara if you would like to stop here. For the wider context, read about the ancient cities of Anatolia.
If the Hittites or the Neolithic are what draw you, tell me when you plan your tailor-made trip and we’ll build your route around it.