Roman glass
Around 270 perfume bottles, cups and jugs from the first three centuries AD, lit to show how thin and fine they are.
Nedim Ardoğa — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dosseman — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Phyrexian — CC BY-SA 4.0
It started with a few Roman ring stones, bought by a Turkish engineer in 1960, and ended half a century later as a whole museum on the doorstep of Ankara Castle. Yüksel Erimtan was never an archaeologist, but over the decades he assembled some two thousand pieces from Anatolian soil under expert guidance, then endowed them to a foundation in his name; the Cultural Heritage Collectors' Society restored three old Ankara houses on the castle square and opened them to the public in March 2015. The building is half the pleasure: stone, timber and small courtyards reworked cleverly without losing the feel of an old Ankara house. What is inside is small in scale and high in quality: delicate Roman glass, perfume bottles and cups from the first three centuries AD (around 270 pieces), more than 560 Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine coins, plus jewellery, seals and small bronzes running from the third millennium BC to Byzantium. The displays are modern and well ordered, with touchscreens and careful lighting, objects at eye level rather than crammed into cases, so you leave feeling you have actually seen something rather than walked past it. The question every visitor will ask: does it replace the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations a few steps away? No. That is the great Hittite and Phrygian museum and deserves two hours. Erimtan is its restful opposite: an unhurried hour with no queues and no tour groups, then a pleasant cafe that makes a good pause before climbing the castle. Music lovers should note the Tuesday evening chamber concerts held in its hall through the season. It works for families but it is not a children's museum; very young ones will be restless after twenty minutes. The lanes around it are steep and cobbled, so a pushchair is more burden than help, and it is best to park below the citadel and walk up. In August its rooms are a cool refuge from Ankara's hard sun; in winter come after lunch, when the castle above is bleak with snow and wind.
Around 270 perfume bottles, cups and jugs from the first three centuries AD, lit to show how thin and fine they are.
The building is a set of three old Ankara houses restored with care; its courtyards and cafe make a quiet break before the castle climb.
More than 560 Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine coins and palm-sized bronze figurines, with touchscreens explaining their context.
Gözcü Sokak No. 10, Kale Mahallesi, Altındağ
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Museum of Anatolian CivilizationsUnder the ten domes of a fifteenth-century covered market where Ankara's merchan1 min walk4.7
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Temple of Augustus and RomeThe political last will of Rome's first emperor survives most completely not in 10 min walk4.5The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, without hesitation; it is Ankara's most important museum and its Hittite pieces have no equal. Erimtan is a pleasant add-on for a spare hour, not a substitute.
Yes for school-age children, since it is compact and the touchscreens keep them busy, but very young ones get bored quickly and a pushchair is useless on the cobbled slopes around the castle.
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