Destinations
The Şanlıurfa museum complex is Türkiye’s largest museum complex. It contains the Şanlıurfa Archeology Museum, Haleplibahçe Mosaic Museum, Archeopark, Roman Bath and Sakıp’s Mansion. As a result of intensive recovery excavations conducted in the region since the 1960s due to the dams built upon Euphrates River, the Şanlıurfa Archeology Museum is one of the richest museums of Türkiye in terms of artifacts and it is hosting the world’s biggest Neolithic collection.
In the Archaeological Museum in Şanlıurfa, a comprehensive exhibition titled 'Karahantepe and Neolithic Human' showcases the latest discoveries from the Karahantepe site. The museum itself offers a chronological journey through history, beginning from prehistoric times to the present day. Alongside a plethora of archaeological artifacts from Şanlıurfa and its vicinity, the exhibition features a miniature representation of the Temple of Enclosure D in Göbeklitepe. Notably, the museum proudly displays the Balıklıgöl Statue, considered the oldest life-size human statue from a similar mound in Şanlıurfa center near Balıklıgöl (Abraham’s Pool), providing compelling evidence of the early Neolithic people's ability to sculpt the human body naturalistically (9300-8700 BCE).
Additionally, the cultic area from the Nevali Çori period has been moved to this museum as a whole. The Haleplibahçe Mosaic Museum, located right next to the Şanlıurfa Archeology Museum, is famous for both its magnificent hunting scene mosaics depicting Amazon women, whose names are frequently mentioned in mythology, as well as the Orpheus mosaic.
