Local tourists rush to Hatay Archaeology Museum

HATAY – Demirören News Agency

The Archeology Museum, where 3,500 square meters of mosaics are exhibited in the southern province of Hatay’s Antakya district, has become a popular place for local tourists. The museum, which is home to the world’s largest mosaic display area, includes a statue of the Hittite King Suppiluliuma II, dating back 3,000 years, as well as many architectural finds.

The Hatay Archeology Museum in Antakya sheds light on history with artifacts from the Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. The museum, which includes 32,754 square meters of indoor space, 10,700 square meters of exhibition space and 3,500 square meters of mosaics, is considered the largest mosaic museum in the world.

In addition to a 3,000-year-old statue of the Hittite King Suppiluliuma II, sarcophagus tombs that have been found in the city, which has hosted many civilizations for centuries, are exhibited in the museum.

Hatay is among provinces where COVID-19 cases have decreased the most throughout the country, and the museum has recently become a frequent destination for domestic tourists.

The rich collection of the museum, which takes visitors from many cities on a journey through history, consists of artifacts unearthed during the excavations in central Antakya, İskenderun, Reyhanlı, Harbiye, Samandağ, Erzin, Dörtyol, Altınözü, Kırıkhan and Hassa districts. Architectural and other finds, mostly from the Roman period, show the magnificence of the region.

“After the opening date of the second phase in 2019, the museum has become the world’s largest mosaic museum in terms of the exhibition space. We are opening new exhibition halls to exhibit the works found in the excavations that have been carried out in recent years. In the coming days, we will open an exhibition entirely based on harvest. We will bring our visitors together with an exhibition about the olive harvest, explaining how the harvest developed and its methods from the Neolithic to the present. The museum has 38,000 works in total. We still have works in the museum storages. We are planning to have an open display in the museum garden and a display in front of the museum, “said Hatay Archaeology Museum Director Ayşe Ersoy.