Kaman Kalehöyük Archaeological Museum

This museum was made to look like the mound it serves. Japanese-Anatolian archaeologists have dug at Kalehöyük since 1986, and the museum was built through cooperation between the Turkish and Japanese governments as a grant under a cultural heritage project. Work began in 2008 and it opened in 2010. Its grass-covered form blends with the landscape and it won a green design award in 2010, then was nominated for European Museum of the Year in 2012.

The campus is more than a gallery: it includes the Japanese-Anatolian Archaeological Institute, the Prince Mikasa Memorial Garden, the mound itself and the museum. The setting was arranged so that visitors can see both the finds and how excavation and conservation are done, and the botanic garden in Japanese style is reported to be the largest outside Japan.

The collection has about 5,000 objects from excavations at Kalehöyük, Yassıhöyük and Büklükale, plus purchases and donations. Alongside the objects, you will find models of settlements, virtual navigation screens, 3D artefact displays, interactive television and holographic storytelling. There is also a café and a research lab, and activities for students.