Alacahöyük Museum and Archaeological Site

Alacahöyük lies in the village of the same name in Alaca district, about fifty kilometres from Çorum. In the Bronze Age and Hittite period it was an important religious and artistic centre. The ruins are open to visitors, and the museum at the site presents the results of the excavations.

The museum was first established in 1940 and is regarded as the first local museum at Alacahöyük. Its collection moved into a new building among the ruins in 1982 and was reorganised in 2011. It displays finds from the Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age, Hittite and Phrygian periods. Its most important group is the thirteen royal tombs of the Early Bronze Age.

Ethnographic objects add a local layer: carpets and kilims, wooden farm tools, a weaving loom, and Ottoman-era piercing, cutting and firearms. On the site itself, the most striking monument is the Sphinx Gate. It was built with andesite blocks on a limestone foundation, is ten metres wide, and stands on the road leading to the great temple. Together they give a clear picture of Anatolia's ancient wealth.