Artifacts on display at century-old Adana factory

ADANA

The Archaeology Museum, the first stage of the Adana Museum Complex, established in a century-old restored factory, was opened to visitors in May and has received 47,000 people since its first day.

The museum sheds light on the history of the Hittite, Assyrians, Ancient Greek, Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods in southern Turkey.

The southern province of Adana, positioned on the coast of the Mediterranean on the rich land between the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers, is believed to have hosted 19 different civilizations since the ancient era.

Works for the museum complex were initiated around three years ago by the Culture and Tourism Ministry General Directorate of Cultural Artifacts and Museums in the Milli Mensucat (National Textile) Factory. The factory was built in 1907 in the southern province of Adana’s Seyhan district.

When the museum complex is completely finished, it will be one of the biggest museum complexes in the Middle East.

The Archaeology Museum section of the complex covers an area of 12,500 square meters and features the activities of human beings since the ancient ages with documents, visuals, dioramas and animations in seven halls. Artifacts in the museum are placed in the hangars of the factory in chronological order.

Among the most significant artifacts on display are the stone sculpture of the Hittite Storm God Tarhun, a stele with the Anatolian hieroglyph inscription, Babylon stele, a bronze male sculpture removed from the sea in Adana’s Karataş district, and the Roman-era Anthropoid Tomb and Achilles Tomb.

Adana Museum Director Nedim Dervişoğlu said the museum opened on May 18 this year after three years of work. “The museum has been planned in two stages. The first stage has been visited by thousands of people since May. We created the display rooms in the hangars of the factory. The 100-year tissue of the building was not touched,” Dervişoğlu added.

He also revealed that the mosaic section of the complex is due to open next year open soon. “The restoration of the agricultural, industrial and urban stages of the museum complex will start next year. Currently the Archaeology Museum displays 1,200 artifacts. The mosaic section, which is set to open in 2018, will display nearly 800 square-meters of mosaics in total,” Dervişoğlu said.