Boğazköy Museum

Merkez Museum October 2010

The Boğazköy Museum is a local museum operating under the Çorum Museum Directorate. It is located in the town center of Boğazkale, roughly 82 km southwest of Çorum. Opened on 12 September 1966, the museum serves as a place where finds collected from the surrounding area, foremost among them the artifacts uncovered in the excavations at the nearby ancient site of Hattuşa (Hattuşaş), are stored and exhibited.

History and Location

Boğazkale, where the museum stands, lies right beside Hattuşa, the capital of the Hittite Empire. For this reason, the museum mainly hosts artifacts from the Hittite period. In addition, the collection also includes artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic Age, the Early Bronze Age, and the Phrygian, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The museum conveys to visitors a multilayered cultural heritage that reflects the long and uninterrupted settlement history of the region.

Layout of the Exhibition

In the entrance hall of the museum, there is a topographic map showing the ancient site of Hattuşa, along with a chronological chart. In the same space, a cast (replica) of the relief of a god at the King’s Gate (Kral Kapı) is on display.

In the first hall, entered from the entrance hall, there are showcases displaying terracotta artifacts from the Chalcolithic, Early Bronze, and Assyrian Trade Colonies ages. In the passage from this hall to the large hall stands the relief of the goddess İştar, brought from the Yazılıkaya open-air sanctuary.

The second hall follows a chronological exhibition arrangement. Here, large beak-spouted pitchers from the Assyrian Trade Colonies Age and the Old Hittite period are displayed, along with photographs showing the conditions in which they were found. The subsequent showcases hold terracotta and stone artifacts from the Old Hittite and Imperial periods; painted ceramic vessels and fibulae from the Phrygian period; terracotta and glass artifacts from the Roman period; and bronze items belonging to a church dating to the Byzantine period.

In the central showcases of the museum are cuneiform tablets, seals, stamped terracotta bullae, cylinder and stamp seals, bronze axes, needles, stonemasonry tools, and molds from the Hittite period. In the same section, an ivory figure of a dancing goddess, a triad of gods, pendants, and pieces of relief-decorated ceramics are exhibited. Between the showcases, large pitchers and reliefed orthostats are also displayed.

Visitor Information

The Alacahöyük and Boğazköy museums serve as local museums affiliated with the Çorum Museum Directorate. The museums are open to visitors during the working hours set by the Çorum Governorship, between 08:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00. They can be visited every day of the week except Mondays. Admission fees to the museums are set by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. (The 2 YTL admission fee mentioned above dates from 2010, when this article was first published, and current fees may differ.)

A large portion of the artifacts exhibited in the museum comes from the nearby ancient site of Hattuşaş. Among the other important Hittite centers that can be visited in the region are Alacahöyük and Şapinuva. The article on Boğazköy Castle near Boğazkale and the article on the History of Boğazkale for the general history of the town may also be reviewed. The Alacahöyük Museum, a sister institution of the same collection, and the Çorum Museum in the provincial center are likewise addresses that complete the archaeological heritage of the region.

ℹ️ This article has been enriched with additional historical context and editing over the original archive content.