Ankara welcomes new Civilizations Museum

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The new Civilizations Museums, planing to be built in Ankara, will gather archaeologic artifacts from all over the country. The museum will be the alrgest Civilization Museum of Turkey. Hürriyet photo

A new civilizations museum that will gather archaeological artifacts from around Turkey at a new venue in Ankara will be a world leader, Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay has said.

“Our dream is to have the largest museum in the world. The museum that we are planning to build will not be the largest of Middle East and Balkans but it will be the largest museum of the world,” he added.

The museum is slated to be built at the Atatürk Cultural Center in Ankara. The protocol for the construction process was recently signed between Günay and Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Melih Gökçek.

Speaking during the ceremony, Günay said the event was a historic day for Ankara. “We have been working on this project for a very long time, and we have signed the protocol at last.”

Ankara is the capital of the Turkish Republic and it will welcome a new museum for the Republic’s centennial in 2023 that features artifacts from the Roman, Selçuk and Ottoman eras. Noting that there many different museums in Ankara, Günay said, “We think that Ankara will host such a museum with pride.”

There are currently more than 100 museums under the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s auspices, said Günay, adding that they had so many artifacts that there was no space to display them all.

“However, some of those artifacts are in the storages of the museums. World museums always try to contact us to display the inventory artifacts. But we think that we can display the excavation works in our new civilization museum,” he said.

Aims of the museum

Günay said the museum would be spread over a 25,000-square-meter area. “We dream of a museum like the Topkapı Palace Museum. The Louvre is also a palace museum, and it is the most original museum with its collection and its architecture,” said Günay.

“Our aim is to become such a museum and compete with those museums in the world,” said Günay, adding that they wanted to build the richest museum in Ankara.

Noting that the museum would boost Ankara’s tourism potential, Günay said: “People who visit Ankara will love the building because we will build such a [beautiful] museum building. There are many museums in different cities of Turkey.”

The new civilization museum will attract many people from around the world and from Turkey to Ankara, he added.

Providing information about the most recent work archaeological work conducted in the Hacıbayram district of Ankara, Günay said the area’s Roman theater “will host large symphony concerts.”

Günay also said the municipality was also working on the restoration of a Roman bath and Ankara Tower. “The tower was detached from the daily life of the city recently. Now, such historical and natural areas will become a part of the general city life.”

Smuggled artifacts returning to Turkey

Artifacts smuggled from Turkey were returning to the country, Günay said. “The Hercules sculpture came with the prime minister. The Hattuşa Sphinx also returned to Turkey and was put in the museum in Çorum,” he added.

“The museums are very important for us because we need to prove to the world that we can preserve and look after the artifacts that we brought back to Turkey,” said Günay, adding that the aim was to continue with beautiful museums in the future. “We have started to build more museums in Gaziantep, Eskişehir, Kahramanmaraş and every part of Anatolia. However, the best museum should be in the capital of Turkey,” he said.

The new museum in Ankara is a very important development in terms of cultural life of Ankara, according to Günay. There will be also a large square in the Ankara Culture Center area, he added.