Nevşehir Museum

Nevşehir Museum owes its existence to a librarian. In 1963–64 the head of the town's central library, Hamit Özalp, gathered antiquities from the surrounding area and kept them in a room of the library. His effort bore fruit: in 1966 the authorities decided to open a museum, and the soup kitchen and primary school of the Damat İbrahim Paşa Complex were restored for the purpose. It opened in 1967 and moved to its present home in the Cultural Centre in 1987.

The archaeological hall covers a long span, from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages through the Iron Age, Archaic, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Archaic and Hellenistic pieces from the Nevşehir Kurugöl and Avanos Topaklı mound excavations include black-glazed lekythoi, plates, cups, pyxides and terracotta vessels shaped like kraters.

Roman finds bring bracelets, glassware, beads, perfume bottles, marble heads of goddesses, small Apollo statuettes and oil lamps. The Byzantine section has glass and bronze bracelets, bronze reliquaries and carved pieces of mother-of-pearl. Donated prehistoric objects from Mesopotamia and Cyprus add an unexpected note, and a separate ethnographic hall shows local life.