Malatya Museum

Malatya has always been a corridor between Central Anatolia and Mesopotamia, and some of the earliest and most advanced societies grew up here. The Euphrates, the Tohma stream and many smaller rivers gave the area lasting importance, and the museum's collection follows that story from about 8000 BC up to recent centuries.

The building itself dates from the late 1970s. Work on it began in 1975 and finished two years later, and the museum opened in 1979 after it had been enriched by finds from rescue excavations begun in 1978 to save sites that would disappear under the Karakaya reservoir. A newer display project was put into practice from 2001.

The heart of the collection comes from Arslantepe Mound: pottery, swords, spearheads, seals, idols, tools and jewellery from the Chalcolithic Age to the Late Hittite period. Further cases show objects from Caferhöyük, Değirmentepe, İmamoğlu and other rescue digs, as well as Urartian, Roman, Byzantine and Seljuk pieces. A chronological coin section occupies the ground floor.