Vehbi Koç Foundation Sadberk Hanım Museum
TRACES OF ANCIENT AGES,
SADBERK HANIM MUSEUM COLLECTION
EXHIBITION
6 December 2013 - 25 May 2014
As part of its temporary exhibition programme the Vehbi Koç Foundation Sadberk Hanım
Museum’s Traces of Ancient Ages, Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection exhibition will be open
from 6 December 2013 to 25 May 2014.
Sadberk Hanım Museum opened on 14 October 1980 as Turkey’s first private museum and
this year celebrates its thirty-third anniversary. The collection of Turkish and Islamic
artefacts gathered by Sadberk Koç formed the original nucleus of the museum collection,
which has since been greatly expanded by donations and purchases. With the purchase of
the Hüseyin Kocabaş collection in 1983 the museum branched out into the field of
antiquities. The Turkish and Islamic collection is housed in Azaryan Yalısı, a historic
waterfront house on the Bosphorus strait dating from the late 19th century, while the
archaeological collection is exhibited in the adjoining the Sevgi Gönül Building, which was
restored and opened in 1988.
The Archaeological Section of Sadberk Hanım Museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary this
year. The collection consisting of nearly 7000 objects ranges from the Late Neolithic Age to
the Byzantine Period, making it possible to trace the course of successive Anatolian
civilizations through their material culture. Archaeological Section of the museum has steadily
grown over the years, with the purchase of rare items from overseas auctions and the
acquisition of registered collections.
Sadberk Hanım Museum Archaeological Section will have been open for 25 years in 2013 and
it was decided to celebrate this anniversary with an exhibition entitled Traces of Ancient
Ages, presenting 150 works that throw light on the periods to which they belong. These
have been selected to best reflect the collection’s comprehensive chronological scope.
Exhibits comprise vessels, stone tools and figurines belonging to the Hacılar culture that
represent the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic ages in the Lakes Region; idols, spouted
jugs and bronze weapons belonging to the Yortan, Troy and Alacahöyük cultures of the Early
Bronze Age in western and central Anatolia; cuneiform tablets, seals and libation vessels
belonging to the Assyrian Trading Colonies, Hittite and Mycenaean cultures of the Middle and
Late Bronze Age; pottery and jewellery belonging to the Urartian, Phrygian and Lydian
kingdoms of Iron Age Anatolia; Geometric Period Carian pottery with its wealth of forms and
decoration; Attic red and black figure vases decorated with mythological and epic scenes
representing cultures of the Archaic and Classical periods; Hellenistic Period gold jewellery,
terracotta figurines and mould-made red slip pottery; statuary, glass vessels and jewellery
from the Roman Period, and finally mainly metal artefacts representing Byzantine culture,
which combined mediaeval Christian belief with the traditions of Roman art to create its own
unique artistic idiom.
The exhibition and catalogue have been prepared by museum curators Senem Özden
Gerçeker and Deniz Uygun.