‘Golden Age of Archaeology’ exhibition opens in Ankara with Marcus Aurelius statue on display

A new exhibit entitled "The Golden Age of Archaeology" was inaugurated on Wednesday in the Turkish capital Ankara featuring a statue of Marcus Aurelius and 485 artifacts from various ancient sites, all on display for the first time.

With the nearly 2,000-year-old statue at the center, the exhibition was inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Complex.

Artifacts unearthed during excavations carried out as part of the "Heritage for the Future Project," launched by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2023, along with artifacts repatriated from abroad and those seized domestically by law enforcement, are being brought together at the Nation's Library in the Presidential Complex.

The statue of famed Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, dated to the second or third century AD, is being displayed along with five statue heads returned to the country from the US and Denmark.

The statue had been trafficked out of Türkiye in the 1960s and later entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio. Depicting the emperor as a philosopher, it is considered one of Anatolia’s finest examples of bronze sculpture.

Following efforts by Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, in cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and US Homeland Security Investigations, the statue was formally returned in April during a ceremony held at the museum.

The return marks one of Türkiye’s highest-profile recoveries of cultural heritage in recent years.

- Hundreds of artifacts from Karahantepe to Ottoman Empire

“The Golden Age of Archaeology” exhibition, featuring artifacts from 90 excavation sites spanning from east to west and north to south of Türkiye, almost all of which are being exhibited for the first time, also includes artifacts from the zero point of history.

Archaeology aficionados will embark on a journey stretching back to 12,000 years BC in the exhibition. Of the 570 artifacts on display at the Nation’s Library in the Presidential Complex, 485 are being exhibited for the first time.

Located at the entrance of the exhibition, a Phrygian-era pot on display for the first time draws attention with the covering still intact on top of it. The fact that it has survived to the present day with such a well-preserved covering holds great significance for archaeological excavations in Anatolia.

The Neolithic Age vessels unearthed in Karahantepe, which are considered the discovery of the century, are presented in the Stone Hills section of the exhibition as a three-dimensional representation of a mythological tale.

A helmet from the Urartian period and a fully intact Eastern Roman iron soldier’s armor are among the most striking pieces in the exhibition.

Artifacts consisting of bronze statue fragments, which were melted down in antiquity for the production of goods and coins, are featured in the section titled “Extraordinary Finds from a Recycling Workshop in Metropolis.”

Among the artifacts on display are a coin from the reign of Murad I, the first coin discovered in Anatolian Seljuk and Ottoman excavations that does not bear the name of the ruler’s father, and a figurative bowl that stands out with its decorations.

The exhibition emphasizes not only the repatriation of smuggled artifacts from abroad but also the importance of preserving heritage without removing it from its land of origin. In this context, a newly discovered female statue, recovered by law enforcement, stands out in the section dedicated to the theme “No Escape.”

In a special section of the Golden Age of Archaeology exhibition, artifacts recovered from underwater were displayed for visitors to enjoy.

A copper ingot retrieved by Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy himself, who dove nearly 40 meters deep off the coast of Adrasan, along with glass wrecks, is also on display.