Adana Museum

Adana Museum was founded in 1924, just after the Republic was proclaimed, which makes it one of the ten oldest museums in Turkey. It began with column capitals and sarcophagi gathered from around the city, opened to visitors in 1928 in a madrasa near the Taşköprü bridge, and later moved to the Kuruköprü building before settling into a purpose-built home in 1972. For a time it also served as a regional museum.

Growing collections eventually demanded more space, and the answer was the Milli Mensucat factory in Seyhan, one of the country's early textile mills, running from 1906 into the 2000s. It also inspired Orhan Kemal's novel about a night watchman. Converted into the Adana Museum Complex from 2013, it opened in stages: the archaeology museum in May 2017, the mosaic section in 2018, and further museums in 2023 and 2024.

Beyond archaeology, the complex now includes a city museum, an agriculture museum, an industry museum, a fashion museum, a popular culture museum covering cinema, literature, sports and music, and a national textile museum, along with an art gallery and a museums square. Its designers describe it as the largest museum complex in Turkey and the Middle East, so leave yourself real time to explore.