4 Best Sights in Cappadocia and Central Turkey, Turkey

The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is a real gem, showcasing many of Turkey's best ancient treasures and providing excellent insight into the incredible amount of history that has played out here. Housed in a 15th-century bedesten (similar to a kervansaray), the museum covers every major civilization that has had a presence in Anatolia, going back more than 10 millennia. Highlights of the vast collection include finds dating from 7000 BC—among them famous mother goddess figurines and wall paintings of animals and geometric patterns from the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest human settlements ever discovered. Other items on display include clay cuneiform tablets—the earliest written records found in Anatolia—from the Assyrian trade colonies period, as well as a 13th-century BC bronze tablet (the only such bronze tablet found in Anatolia) recording a Hittite treaty. A significant collection of monumental stonework from around Anatolia, including well-preserved neo-Hittite reliefs depicting the epic of Gilgamesh, from the archaeological site of Karkamış (Kargamış) in Gaziantep, is on display in the central hall.

In Turkey's first parliament building, which now houses the Museum of the Republic, politicians debated principles and policies that would shape the Turkish Republic as a modern secular nation. The great hall where parliament convened from 1924 to 1960 is decorated in Seljuk and Ottoman styles, with an ornately inlaid wooden ceiling, enormous crystal chandelier, and a loggia-like gallery from which dignitaries addressed the assembly. The museum includes a small exhibit on the early years of the Republic. Although signs are only in Turkish, a free—and very informative—English audio guide is available.

Atatürk used this Ottoman Revival–style building as an office, and his body lay here for 15 years after his death while his enormous mausoleum was being built. This small museum mainly appeals to those interested in cultural artifacts. It houses a rich collection of Turkish carpets, folk costumes, weapons, Islamic calligraphy, and ceramics. The display of woodwork, which includes intricately carved doors, portals, minbars (mosque pulpits), and Seljuk thrones—some pieces dating as far back as the 13th century—is especially impressive.

The small but nicely done Niğde Museum showcases a variety of finds from nearby archaeological sites dating mainly to the Early Bronze Age and Assyrian, Hittite, Greek, and Roman periods. On display are ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, stelae, and an extensive collection of coins. There are also five 10th- and 11th-century mummies—of an adult woman and four small children—that were found in a rock-cut church in the Ihlara Valley and elsewhere in Cappadocia.