The largest museum complex of Turkey: Sanliurfa Museum

Initiatives to set up a museum in Sanliurfa began in 1948 with the colleciton of museum pieces and storeage of the pieces in Ataturk Elemanry School. Later on, the pieces were transferred to Sehit Nusret Elementary School. The construction of the museum began in 1965 and the museum was opened for visits in 1969. The museum in the Sehitlik neighborhood could only be used until 2014 due to a higher number of artifacts. Sanliurfa Archeology Museum is moved to its new building in neighborhood of Haleplibahce in 2015.

Sanliurfa Archeology Museum is the 5th richest museum in Turkey, with 74000 items. From Paleolithic Era up to present, many significant pieces can be seen in Sanliurfa Museum. “12000Year-old World’s Oldest Sculpture: Balıklıgol Sculpture” can be seen in our Museum.

In terms of the number of archological excavations, Sanliurfa comes first in Turkey. In this context, the city center and two other township centers were declared as archeological sites. It can be said that the whole city is an open-air museum. Considering all these aspects, Culture and Tourism Ministry decided to build an archeological museum and a mosaic museum  in neighborhood of Haleplibahce.

The New Sanliurfa Museum and Haleplibahce Mosaics Museum were opened on 24 Mays 2015.