Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Istanbul Archaeology Museum
October 2000

First opened in 1881, the museum was expanded several times.
The most recent addition is the Museum of the Ancient Orient, which opened September 8, 2000.

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Museum of the Ancient Orient

Glazed brick  friezes from Babylon's main entrance, the Ishtar Gate, dating from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC) The visitor walks through a hallway with the lions on one side and the bulls and mythological beasts on the other.
Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000	Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000

Photo by Amy Gerson �2000

Closeup of a lion from the Ishtar Gate

 

Photo by Amy Gerson �2000	Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000
8th Century BC Neo-Hittite God receiving offerings of fruit & grain	?

 

Cuneiform writing from the New Assyrian period
Photo by Amy Gerson �2000	Photo by Amy Gerson �2000
Code of Hammurabi, 1750 BC, the world's oldest recorded set of laws	Treaty of Kadesh, 1269 BC, the world's oldest surviving peace treaty, between the Egyptians and the Hittites

 

Photo by Amy Gerson �2000	Photo by Amy Gerson �2000
Na zdarovye! Cliff recalled that the tour guide pointed out numerous instances of collapsible furniture (note the table in this frieze).	Double Sphinx

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Main Museum

Sarcophagi from the royal necropolis at Sidon (in what is now Lebanon), discovered by Osman Hamdi Bey (the founder of this museum) in 1887
Photo by Amy Gerson �2000	Photo by Amy Gerson �2000
Detail of the Alexander Sarcophagus, late 4th Century BC Made for Abdalonymos, who became King of Sidon after Alexander the Great defeated the Persians at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC.  It contains traces of its original coloring, but the original metal lances & swords were looted.	The Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women, was thought to have been made for King Straton (374 - 358 BC).  The women may have been members of his harem.

 

Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000	Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000
Emperor Hadrian, 2nd century AD,  discovered in Crete	Tyche, 2nd century AD

 

Photo by Fred Spann �2000	Photo by Cliff Huebner �2000
Relief of Gigantomachy, 2nd century AD, discovered in Aphrodisias Athena (on the left) is attacking two giants with legs of serpents.	Kory (20th century AD), Sappho (2nd century AD), and Barry Joe (20th century AD)

 

Photo by Amy Gerson �2000

Oceanus, 2nd century AD, discovered in Ephesus

Thanks for the photos...would they happen to have a guide book? A website?

 

Mord.

Archeology Museum

Archeology Museum, one of the greatest museums of the world, is located between G�lhane Park and Topkap� Palace. Archeology Museum, which was opened to service with the name of �Mecma-i Esliha-i Atika� and �Mecma-i Asar-i Atika� within St. �rini Church in 1846, got the name �M�ze-i H�mayun� (Empire Museum) in 1869.
Though most of the works of display were moved to the Tiled Kiosk between the years of 1873-1891, Archeological Museum was rebuilt under the name of �Asari Antics Museum� by Osman Hamdi Bey in its present classical style in 1891.
In the various halls of Archeology Museum, archeological pieces such as sarcophagus, tombstone, epitaph, bust, sculpture, relief, column heads and mosaics from Greek, Roman and Byzantine civilizations are on display. The museum has a resourceful library with the books on history, archeology, numismatics, and fine arts, a chemistry laboratory, a sculpture repair workhouse and photography section.

Address: Osman Hamdi Bey Slope, 34400 G�lhane � Istanbul
Phone: +90 212 520 77 40

http://www.kultur.gov.tr/portal/arkeoloji_en.asp?belgeno=299 1

http://www.mymerhaba.com/en/main/content.asp_Q_id_E_310

And a very useful guide to museums of Istanbul:

http://www.istanbulexcursions.com/museums.htm

 

By MARK LANDLER
Published: August 2, 2005

ISTANBUL - The dusty pit next to the governor's office here looks like any other archaeological dig. Workers chip away gingerly at a half-buried stone wall, carting off the crumbling bricks in a wheelbarrow.

The walls were originally the cellars of houses built 50 to 70 years ago in the early years of the Turkish Republic. Beneath them, archaeologists have uncovered a staircase dating from the late Ottoman Empire, perhaps a century or two old. And lurking beneath that is a genuine treasure: a stone arch that forms part of a cistern from the late Byzantine period, which ended in 1453.

What sets this site apart is that the diggers are only a step ahead of the bulldozers. Machines will soon tear up this serpentine street in the heart of Istanbul's old city to put in a station for a new subway line.

"If we find some more important things down there, maybe they'll cancel the subway," said one of the archaeologists, Oguz Erkan, with the halfhearted tone of someone who knows better.

It does not take an archaeologist's training to see the risks of digging a railway tunnel under one of the world's most ancient cities - a center of both Islam and Christendom - where remnants of civilizations and empires are piled on top of one another like a stack of history books.

Istanbul, however, is pressing ahead with the construction of the 47-mile rail system, which will connect the city's European and Asian halves through a tunnel that runs beneath the Bosporus.

City officials say the $2.6 billion project, the Marmaray, is desperately needed to ease congestion in a metropolis of 10 million. The two bridges that cross the Bosporus are jammed with traffic, and the existing subway system, with one line and six stations, is comically inadequate.

The trouble is, the project's engineers have concluded that the best route for the tunnel on the European side is beneath the old city - home to the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace, where sultans ruled the Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries. The workers are likely to hit something of historical value every time they put shovel to earth.

"It's extremely challenging because no other city has so many layers of cultural history," said Ismail Karamut, director of the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul, which is helping to excavate four sites that lie in the path of the subway to assess their historic significance.

The tunnels between the stations will be deep enough to run below the historical ruins, he said. But three stations will require shafts for escalators and concourses that will have to be dug from the surface.

Istanbul's deputy governor, Cumhur Guven Tasbasi, said the city would not hesitate to halt construction and reroute the subway "if we come across remains of an ancient city, or a theater or any ancient relics."

But it has not yet done so, despite what some archaeologists say is ample evidence of Roman and Byzantine ruins, including the cistern next to the governor's office. Based on the excavation so far, Mr. Karamut said, there were no findings that would "change the archaeological history of Istanbul."

A site's historical value, other archaeologists note, is in the eye of the beholder. Critics say that in its rush to complete a showcase project, Istanbul is being cavalier about its cultural heritage.

"This is like erasing the history of a place without recording it with due care," said Minja Yang, a Unesco official who has spent years prodding Istanbul to take better care of its ancient sites.

Critics are especially harsh about the city's decision to demolish the walls of a bazaar, dating from the 16th century, that was unearthed on the Asian side of the Bosporus, on the site of a subway station. Archaeologists recommended moving the walls, but a state historic preservation council overruled them, saying the walls were too cumbersome to move. "In Istanbul, people don't think it is important unless it is a big monument," said Eugenia Bolognesi, an Italian archaeologist who has worked here for 20 years. "This was the place where caravans left Istanbul for Mecca," she said of the bazaar. "There might not be Byzantine mosaics, but the history is important."

The city was far more careful about a shipwreck discovered at Yenikapi, a coastal neighborhood on the European side that was a harbor during Byzantine times. The pieces of the boat, which dates from either the 11th or 12th century, are being moved before construction on a subway station there begins. Eventually, they will be displayed in the station.

Archaeologists are excited about the find, which they say could tell a lot about seafaring in the days when Istanbul was known as Constantinople. Exhibiting it in the station, they said, is a better solution than moving it to a museum, where it would be lost among the other antiquities.

To obtain a construction loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Istanbul submitted to a review process, which includes monthly reports of archaeological findings. But critics fault Istanbul for relying on local archaeologists, who they say are poorly financed and trained for such a complex project, especially under tight time pressure.

"A case as important as Istanbul should also have non-Turk experts," Ms. Yang of Unesco said. "Istanbul is a site that is of such incredible international value that it should have been shared."

Even critics of Istanbul's methods concede that it is unrealistic to expect that it not build a subway in the old city. Rome and Athens both built systems, despite their rich archaeological troves. Subways can also have a salutary effect on above-ground treasures by reducing pollution from cars.

"This is a modern city, in which people have to live and get to work each day," Ms. Yang said. "The challenge for Istanbul is developing a modern city while protecting its ancient heritage."

Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting for this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/international/europe/02ist anbul.html?ex=1123646400&en=a5b0edef29bfa817&ei=5040&partner =MOREOVERNEWS