Hatay Archaeology Museum

Türkiye’s Largest Mosaic Museum

Hatay Archaeology Museum has been welcoming visitors since 2014 in its new, modern building, which is fully equipped in accordance with the principles of contemporary museology. The museum houses a remarkable collection of artifacts from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman (Byzantine), Seljuk, and Ottoman periods.

With a total mosaic display area of 3,250 square meters, the museum holds the distinction of being the museum exhibiting the world’s largest collection of mosaics. Thanks to the exceptional craftsmanship, rich color palette, impressive scale, quantity, and outstanding quality of its mosaics, Hatay Archaeology Museum is regarded as one of the most important mosaic museums in the world.

In addition to its mosaic collection, the museum also features an extensive and internationally significant coin collection, including coins minted at the Antioch mint, representing nearly all historical periods without interruption from antiquity to later eras.

Part of the rich mosaic collection unearthed during excavations conducted by Princeton University between 1932 and 1939 is now dispersed among approximately twenty museums and private collections worldwide.

Showcasing the Magnificence of the Region

The museum’s diverse and rich collections originate primarily from archaeological excavations carried out in Antakya (Antioch) and its surrounding areas, including İskenderun, Daphne (Harbiye), Tell Atçana, Tell Tayinat, Samandağ (Seleukeia Pieria), Erzin (Epiphaneia), Dörtyol, Altınözü, Kırıkhan, and Hassa. Most of the architectural remains and artifacts, particularly from the Roman period, vividly reflect the historical splendor of the region.

Among the museum’s most striking mosaics are the “Abandoned Ariadne Mosaic,” “Yakto Mosaic,” “Satyr and Hermaphroditos Mosaic,” “Seasons Mosaic,” “Birth of Venus Mosaic,” “Artemis Mosaic,” and the famous “Skeleton Mosaic.”

Other must-see masterpieces include the Statue of Šuppiluliuma, the Arsuz Stelae, the Assyrian Orthostat, the Statue of Tyche, the Antioch Sarcophagus, and the Double-Lion Column Base.