Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara

The collection sits in a fifteenth-century covered market and the adjoining han, restored in the 1940s to hold what Anatolian archaeology was pulling out of the ground. It is arranged chronologically and it works: obsidian tools and the seated mother goddess from Catalhoyuk, then gold from the Alacahoyuk graves, then the Hittite section most people come for, stone orthostats carved with processions and hunting and the gate lions moved here from sites across central Anatolia. Phrygian bronzes and inlaid wood from Gordion follow, then Urartian metalwork from the east. The building earns the walk on its own, a domed bedesten with the exhibits under brick vaults.

What you actually see

• The Catalhoyuk room - wall paintings, obsidian and the seated goddess from the neolithic mound.
• The Hittite orthostats - carved stone panels and gate lions brought in from central Anatolian sites.
• Gordion finds - Phrygian bronzes, furniture and inlaid wood from the tumulus.
• The bedesten itself - a fifteenth-century market hall with the collection under its domes.

When to go

Year-round; the halls are heated in winter and cool in summer, which matters in Ankara. Mornings before the school groups arrive are calmest. Combine it with the castle walls immediately above, and give yourself a full morning if you want to read the Hittite labels rather than walk past them.

Honest expectations

Ankara is not a city most people plan a trip around, and reaching the museum means a climb through the old quarter on uneven paving. The Hittite material is the strongest part; the later Greek and Roman rooms feel like an afterthought. Lighting on the stone reliefs is poor for photographs, and signage outside the museum is minimal.

Nearby

Ankara castle is directly above, with the old quarter's copper and spice streets on the way up.