Antalya, Archaeological Museum

To be honest, I was not looking forward to the archaeological museum of Antalya. My friend Marco and I had been there before, in 2003, and although we were impressed by the collection of sculpture, we agreed that the entrance fee of15 lira was exaggerated. Back then, it was the equivalent of 15 euro, comparable to the Vatican Museums. And no matter how interesting the sculpture of the Antalya museum might have been, it was just not the equivalent of the Vatican. Having been forced to pay too much earlier that day in the tourist trap at Side, we felt a bit cheated.

But, as I learned today, inflation has splendid side-effects. The 15 lira are now the equivalent of 7,80 euro, which is reasonable. I think that it’s Turkey’s third museum of ancient art, after Istanbul and Ankara.

The first room is dedicated to prehistory and contains some nice objects. After that, you will reach a room with ceramics, arranged according to art historical period. There are many explanatory signs that tell you what a kantharos, an olpe, or an alabastron were for. This part of the collection is quite useful for students of art history, but not for archaeologists, because the explanatory signs do not tell you where these objects are from. Personally, I do not like this, but the choice for art history is respectable.

There are Phrygian objects from Elmalı, which include a splendid ivory statuette of a woman with two children, some weapons, bronze griffin heads from a cauldron, and a small statue of a priest. I found this the biggest surprise, and noted that I wanted to see the Elmalı tumulus when I’m over here again.

After that, there’s a very large collection of sculpture. One of these works of art is the cult statue from the Letoon, pieced together from about 200 fragments. The other statues are from the Southern Baths and the theater of Perge, and include a number of deities, a couple of emperors, the Muses, a frieze with an amazonomachy, several busts, and the inevitable theater masks. The quality is uneven: some of them are really fine, others were made by mediocre sculptors.

If you go upstairs, you will find a nice collection of coins (magnifying glasses would be nice) and Christian art. Here, you will also find some terracottas, oil lamps, and some of the bones said to be of Nicholas of Myra.

Returning downstairs, you’ll reach a room with many sarcophaguses, plus some monuments, like the cenotaph of Augustus’ grandson Gaius and the mausoleum of Pericles of Limyra. This one includes frieze with a number of horsemen; one of them, unfortunately very damaged, contains a portrait of Artaxerxes II Mnemon. Together with the Artaxerxes III Ochus from the Allard Piersonmuseum, and the Darius III Codomannus from Naples, this is the only portrait of an Achaemenid king.

Museum bookshops are not Turkey’s strongest point, but the books sold in the Antalya museum are better than average. I must not forget to mention the presence of large groups of children, who are probably paid for every decibel they produce. Yet, the museum remains, essentially, a calm place, where you can quietly study the objects you want to see. Explanatory signs might be better, but this is certainly a good museum.

This museum was visited in 2003, 2010.

66 pictures related to this museum

The Dioscuri	Heracles and the Belt of Hippolyte	Limyra, Cenotaph of Gaius Caesar, Damaged relief	Myra, Church of the tomb of St Nicholas, Pectoral
Aspendus, Bowl	Alexander the Great on a coin of Philip Arrhidaeus	Xanthus, Pyxis	Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles, cavalry
Myra, Ivory with a Menorah	Limyra, Ptolemaion, Metope with a Centauromachy	Myra, Church of the tomb of St Nicholas, lamp	Alexander the Great
Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles: Artaxerxes II Mnemon	Antigonus II Gonatas	Arykanda, Figurine of Hermes	Side, Treasure of 129 tetradrachms from the late second century BCE
Head of Odysseus	Patara, Amphora-shaped alabastron	Limyra, Ptolemaion, Statue of a lion	Arykanda, Statue of Heracles
Heracles and the Stymphalian Birds	Perge, Severan nymphaeum, Septimius Severus	Limyra, Ptolemaion, Statue of a lion, head	Justin I
Lycian tomb	Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles, Phalanx	Aspendus, Figurine	Perge, Severan nymphaeum, Julia Domna
Arykanda, Statue of a girl	Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles, cavalry	Perge, Northern nymphaeum, Hadrian	Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles, fleeing Gorgo
Limyra, Sherd from Attica	Patara, bottle	Xanthus, Lycian Acropolis, washing bowl	Myra, Church of the tomb of St Nicholas, Bones, perhaps belonging to Nicholas of Myra
Perge, South Baths, Statue of Athena	Heracles and the Mares of Diomedes	Heracles and Cerberus	Patara, Sarcophagus of the champion Theronides
Dedication to Zeus (top, center), Artemis (bottom, center), and the Twelve Lycian Gods, who are standing on twelve dogs	Justin I	Heracles and the Cattle of Geryon	Heracles and the Augean Stables
Heracles and the Ceryneian Hind	Arykanda, Statue of a woman	Arykanda, Altar for Helios	Xanthus, Part of a monumental relief
Limyra, Cenotaph of Gaius Caesar, Relief	Ariobarzanes I Philoromaeus of Cappadocia, coin	Gotarzes I	Limyra, Ptolemaion, Statue of a lady
Heracles and the Nemean Lion	Heracles and the Hydra	Xanthus, Small amphoras	Perge, Agora, West hall, Portrait of a priest
Patara, Figurine of a man and a herm	Limyra, Ptolemaion, Metope with a Centauromachy	Heracles and the Apples of the Hesperides	Arykanda, Relief of three Lycian goddesses
Side, Late Roman sarcophagus	Heracles and the Erymanthian Boar	Limyra, Mausoleum of Pericles, Perseus	Heracles and the Cretan Bull
Prusias II the Hunter	Myra, Church of the tomb of St Nicholas, Decoration