Set in a beautifully restored 15th-century Ottoman covered bazaar and caravanserai just below the castle, this is one of the world's great archaeology museums and a former European Museum of the Year. Its collection tells the story of Anatolia in near-unbroken sequence, from Paleolithic tools through the Neolithic wall paintings and the famous seated mother-goddess figurine of Çatalhöyük, into the Bronze Age. The heart of the museum is its Hittite hall, where monumental stone orthostats and reliefs from Hattusa and other capitals depict gods, kings, and processions carved three and a half thousand years ago. Phrygian treasures from Gordion, including finds tied to the legend of King Midas, sit alongside Urartian metalwork and Assyrian trade tablets. Clear labeling and a logical chronological flow make it approachable even if you know little archaeology. For many travelers it is the single best reason to linger in Ankara at all.
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