Boğazköy Museum, located in Çorum Hattuşa, which was the capital of the Hittites, one of the largest empires in the world, has been transformed into an independent museum.
Boğazköy Museum, located in Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites, was transformed into an independent museum by the decision of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Archaeologist Resul İbiş has been appointed as the Director of Boğazköy Museum, which will carry out its work independently from the Çorum Museum.
In the city, which was the capital of the Hittites, one of the largest empires of the world, it is planned that the tourism activities and museum services in the region will become more effective with the Bogazkoy museum gaining the status of an independent directorate. Alacahöyük Museum and archaeological site, Hattusa ruins and excavations in these areas will be carried out through Boğazköy Museum Directorate.
Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Sümeyra Bektaş, explaining that 3 museums and 2 archaeological sites were provided as an organized excavation, said, “Boğazkale and Alacahöyük Museum Directorates were managed from the Çorum Museum. This caused the museology services not to be carried out very well. It was announced as a separate museum directorate with the consent of our Minister of Culture and Tourism. Resul İbiş, one of the experts of Çorum Museum, was appointed as the director of Boğazköy Museum. In the next period, excavations in Alacahöyük Museum and archaeological site, Hattusa ruins, and excavations in these areas will be carried out through Boğazköy Museum Directorate.
Explaining that the Bogazkoy Museum will gain an independent status, museology and tourism activities will be carried out more effectively, Bektaş said, "Hattusa Ruins, which is on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage list, and Boğazköy Museum, where the cuneiform tablets on the World Cultural Memory list, where thousands of tablets are found, are also in the Hattusa ruins. Boğazköy, with its sphinxes, one of which was taken abroad for restoration purposes in Germany and brought back to our country and took its place in the museum, will carry out its next works as the Museum Directorate. We invite you to see the world heritage with the start of the tourism season.”
Boğazköy Museum, which was opened on September 12, 1966, was reorganized in 2011. Artifacts unearthed during the excavations of the Hittite capital, Hattusa, are exhibited in the museum. Thematic and chronological exhibitions were held in the exhibition halls of Boğazkale Museum. The display order, which starts with the Chalcolithic, Old Bronze Age and Assyrian Trade Colonies Age works in the first hall of the ground floor, continues chronologically with the Phrygian, Galatian, Roman Periods and ends with the Eastern Roman Period.
Two Sphinxes at the Sphinx Gate in the Ancient City of Hattusa were taken to Berlin to be restored in 1907, as they were badly damaged by the fire. After restoration, one of the sphinxes was returned to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums in 1924, and the other was kept in the Berlin Museums until 2011. Both sphinxes are on display at Boğazköy Museum since 26 November 2011. In the Hittite hall, which is entered through the door where the sphinxes are located, the state and social structure of the Hittites is explained with panels and artifacts with rich visuals. A stonemason from the Hittite period is depicted with animation in this area. On the upper floor of the Hittite hall, the religious and military structure of the Hittites, their writing system, materials from the excavations, panel information and visuals are explained. There is also a model of the Hattusa ruins and the great temple here. In the garden of the museum, sphinxes from the Hittite period, hieroglyphic inscriptions, milestones and tombstones from the Roman and Eastern Roman periods are exhibited.