ANKARA

Atatürk and The War of Independence Museum
Anıtkabir museum is composed of three sections. The first section is Atatürk Museum, at which are exhibited Atatürk’s civil and official clothes, his personal belongings, various gifts presented to him, and many assorted documents and photos. In the second section, just dive into the Çanakkale (Dardanelle) War. Audiovisual effects and objects such as rocks, cannons, rifles, guns and shells have been added to this section in order to allow you to perceive the war scenes on the walls as if in three dimensions. The other panoramas depicting the Sakarya Meydan Savaşı and Büyük Taarruz (two of the most important battles of the War of Independence) have also been arranged with the same effect in mind. The third section is composed of recreations of events that took place from the time of the War of Independence (1919) until the death of Atatürk (1938).
http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/read/museums

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
Selected the European Museum of the Year in 1997, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is located on the hill with Ankara’s ancient Citadel, in the district called Atpazari (the horse market). TIn accordance with the suggestion by Atatürk that a Hittite Museum should be established, an Anatolian Civilizations project was initiated to gather all artifacts, remnants and other findings of the Hittite civilization in Ankara. The museum has Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Late Bronze Age, Hittite, Phrygia, Urartu and Late Hittite sections.http://www.goturkey.com/content.php?cid=51767&typ=c&lng=enHisarlar Caddesi, Atpazari AnkaraPhone: 0 312 324 31 60-62Fax: 0 312 311 28 39www.anadolumedeniyetlerimuzesi.gov.tr 

Etnography Museum
The Ethnography Museum is the museum, where Turkish art from Seljuk era to the present time is exhibited.Public clothes, jewellery, shoes, slippers, samples collected from various regions of Anatolia, womens and mens socks from Sivas region, various bowls, laces, scarves, belts, handkerchiefs, bed sheets, bride costumes, bridegroom shaving sets, old traditional Turkish art are exhibited.Technical material and designs unique to Turks and carpets, weaving benches from Uşak, Gördes, Bergama, Kula, Milas, Ladik, Karaman, Niğde, Kırşehir regions are on display. Arrows, bows, lighting pistols, rifles, sword and other things from Ottoman period, Turkish pottery and porcelain and Kütahya porcelains, religious and sect properties, Turkish inscriptions are exhibited with the nice samples.http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/read/museums

NEVSEHIR Cappadocia

Göreme Open Air Museum
Göreme, in which there are many fairy chimneys and churches, is declared as an open air museum. Tokalı Church, the Priestesses and Priests Monastery, Saint Basil Chapel, Elmalı Church, Saint Barbara Chapel, Yılanlı (Saint Onuphrius) Church, Karanlık Church, Çarıklı Church, El Nazar Church, Saklı Church, Mother Mary (Kılıçlar Kuşluk) Church, Saint Eustathios Church and the Durmuş Kadir Churches, all of which are found within its territories, are valuable places to visit.The valleys, which are composed of tuff rocks, between Göreme Valley and Aktepe, are known as Büyük and Küçük Kılıçlar. 

Pembe Valley
The most stunning examples of the local landscape and the Fairy Chimneys can be seen along the route to Avanos. Many of these rock formations resemble animal (camels and rabbits can be seen frequently).

Kızılçukur
As a centre of grape and wine production, Kizilcukur, a couple of kilometres northwest of Ürgüp, contains churches cut into the strange rock formations and decorated with grape figures. The rocks are adorned by different colours, making them a spectacular sight at sunset.

Mustafapaşa
Located 5km from Ürgüp, the small village of Mustafapasa has old stone houses with attractive carved facades dating back to the end of the 19th century, as well as a cluster of small churches. Once known as Sinasos, while it was a thriving Greek community before World War I, it makes an interesting trip from Ürgüp, although it is not easily accessible by public transport. Places of interest include a 19th century medrese, the Ayios Vasilios Church, and the Church of Sts Constantine and Helena. There are several small guest-houses and restaurants.

Sarıhan
Sarıhan (Yellow Caravanserai), about 10km north of Ürgüp, was constructed by the Seljuk Sultan Alaattin Keykubat in 1217. It has a huge courtyard with an elaborate gateway, and was used for the loading of animals and as a resting place for travellers. It is also a unique example of the Seljuk-Turkish architecture. The road was re-laid and the building was restored in the late 1980s, and is now functioning as a museum and a cultural centre for the performances of whirling dervishes in the summer. There is rarely public transport to Sarıhan.

Halacdere
Engraved in the tuffs, these basilica-type churches were thought to have been used as hospital buildings by the Christians, and are now almost destroyed. Similar structures can also be seen in Ortahisar, such as St Peter and St Paul Churches.

Fıratkan
Firatkan is a small complex of churches, located on the road to the Göreme Open Air Museum. They have two storeys, consisting of a dormitory, dining hall, kitchen and storerooms. The storeys are connected to each other through tunnels.

Ortahisar
This village, 3 km southeast of the Goreme Valley, is most famous for its 50m high rock-castle, which is visible from the main road. It is possible to climb the rock, which offers stunning views of the surrounding area. This attractive farming village also exhibits the traces of the monastery lifestyle, and is a prominent cultural and commercial centre. Other places of interest in this area include the Harim Church, Sanca Churchand Cambazlı Church.

Zelve
About 5 km from Avanos and 1 km from Paşabağlari, Zelve was founded on the steep northern slopes of Aktepe. Consisting of three separate valleys, the ruins of Zelve is the area with the most ‘fairy chimneys’ – a famous sight special to Cappadocia – which here have sharp points and thick trunks. It is not known exactly when people began living in the dwellings carved into the rock, found in places like Uçhisar, Göreme, Çavuşin and Zelve. What is known is that Zelve sheltered a Christian community and became a religious centre in the 9th and 13th centuries, where, the first religious seminars for priests were held in the vicinity.

Çavuşin (Nicephorus Phocas) Church
This ancient city is found beside the Göreme-Avanos road, 2.5 km out of Göreme. The narthex of this church has fallen down. It has tunnel vaults, a high nave and 3 apses. It dates back to 964-965 A.D.

Güllüdere (St. Agathangelus) Church
This ancient city is located in the far left draw of the Güllüdere valley, about 2 km from the village of Çavuşin. It was founded at the mouth of the draw on top of a steep slope.The shape of the nave is square, with a flat ceiling, and it has a single broad apse. The apse was added in the 9th or 10th century to the main structure dating back to the 6th – 7th century. There are 2 or 3 layers of frescoes in the apse which indicates that it was painted regularly. Symbols of Gospel authors are drawn symmetrically and are sitting on the right and left of an enthroned Jesus.In the middle of the flat ceiling is the relief of a cross in the middle of a circle surrounded with palm leaves and garlands. This sort of relief, most probably, belongs to the Iconoclastic period. The people of the area had a great love for the cross and it continued to be used as a motif after the Iconoclastic era because it symbolized the “Holy Cross” in Jerusalem.

Özkonak Underground City
Located 14 km northeast of Avanos, this underground city was built on the northern slopes of Mt. Idis, in an area with strata made up of volcanic granite. The extensive galleries of the city are spread out over a large area and connected to each other by tunnels. The underground cities in Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, are very narrow (5 cm) and there are long holes between the different levels of the city that were used to provide communication between the different levels of the city. The ventilation of these neatly carved out rooms was provided by these holes when the city was sealed up against enemies.The city was discovered in 1972 by the local muezzin and farmer Latif Acar, when he was trying to find out where the water disappeared, which was supposed to run towards his crops.Similar to Kaymakli and Derinkuyu, Ozkonak has a ventilation system, a water well, a winery and rolling stone doors.
Opening hours: Summer 08.00 – 19.00; winter 08.00 – 17.00Phone: 0 384 271 21 67http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/read/museums

ISTANBUL

Anadolu Hisarı
The castle covering seven acre area and giving its name to the location was built by Sultan Beyazid I (Yildirim) as the front military station of Ottoman in 1395. The building was added “Hisarpence”, storehouse and some residental buildings by Mehmed II. In 1928 some repair works were made by kandilli Municipality. Some repairs were made by Ministry of Culture in 1991-1993. Today Anadolu Hisari is within borders of Beykoz Municipality. There is no movable cultural assets in the castle. It has not been opened for visits.http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/read/museums

Archeology Museum
The Directorate of Istanbul Archeology Museums that is dependent on the General Directorate of Monuments and Museums of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey is on the Osman Hamdi Bey Ascent that opens to the Topkapi Palace Museum from the right of the Gulhane Park Entry which is in the Sultanahmet district.Istanbul Archeology Museums consist of three museums. Those are Archeology Museum, Old Eastern Works Museum and Enameled Kiosk Museum.Istanbul Archeology Museums, which were established as Muze-i Humayun (Empire Museum) by the famous artist and museum director Osman Hamdi Bey at the end of the 19th century, were opened to public on June 13, 1891. Besides its importance as the ‘first Turkish museum’, it has an importance and specialty being one of the museum buildings that are constructed as a Museum in the World. Today, it still protects its outstanding place in the World’s biggest museums with its works more than a million belonging to various cultures.In the museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Balkans to Africa, from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.

Archeology Museum
The Archeology Museum consists of two separate buildings.

I) Main Building (Old Building)
Its construction was started in 1881 by Osman Hamdi Bey and with the additions in 1902 and 1908 it gained its latest form. Its architect is Alexander Vallaury. The outer face of the building was made by inspiring from the Iskender Tomb and Crying Women tombs. It is a beautiful example of neoclassical buildings in Istanbul.On the bottom floor saloons of the building, famous tombs are displayed such as Iskender Tomb, Crying Women Tomb, Satrap Tomb, Lykia Tomb, Tabnit Tomb that are in the Sayda king graveyard.On the bottom floor, besides the display of tombs, there is Old Age Statuary display in which statues and relieves from important antic cities and regions take place. In this display, the development of the art of statuary from Archaic Period to the Byzantium Period is displayed in chronological order with outstanding examples.

II) Additional Building (New Building)
The additional building attached to the southeast of the main building is of 6 stories. There are depots in the two stories under the ground floor.The four stories of the building are arranged as exhibition saloons. There is ‘Istanbul for Ages’ on the first floor of the building, ‘Anatolia and Troia for Ages’ on the second floor and ‘Surrounding Cultures of Anatolia: Cyprus, Syria-Palestine’ on the top floor. The museum has received the European Council Museum Award in 1991, which is its 100. establishment anniversary, with the new arrangement made in the lower floor saloons and the Additional Building display.

Old Eastern Works Museum
The building, which was made by Osman Hamdi bey in 1883 as Sanayi-i Nefise (Fine Arts School), was organized as a museum with the works made between 1917-1919 and 1932-1935. The building, which was closed to visit in 1963, was opened to visit again in 1974 with a new display by changing the inner parts.On the upper floor of the two-flat building, Anatolian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Arabic works of art are displayed. Statue of Naramsin, the king of Akad, the Kades Agreement and Zincirli statue are the unique works of art in the museum.Moreover, in this museum there is a ‘Tablet Archive’ in which 75.000 documents with cuneiform writings are kept.

Enameled Kiosk Museum
The kiosk that has been made by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1472 is one of the oldest examples of Ottoman civil architecture in Istanbul. The entrance facade of the kiosk is single-flat and the back facade is of two-stories. There is a marble porch of 14 columns in the entrance. The entrance exedra is decorated with mosaic enamels. Various chinaware and ceramics from the Seljuk and Ottoman period are displayed in the Kiosk that forms from 6 rooms and a middle saloon. There are approximately 2000 works of art in the museum and its depots.http://www.goturkey.com/en/pages/read/museums

For further information please visit http://istanbularkeoloji.gov.tr/