10 September, Ankara
Sevecen Otel 84TL
We returned from our day in this city of
4.5 million footsore, but happy. The wonderful Museum of Anatolian
Civilisations is housed in a restored 15th-century bedesten (covered market)
and displays tools, pottery, jewellery, weapons, religious artefacts, stone
reliefs and much, much more beginning with the Palaeolithic age and including
all the cultures and conquerors that have enriched Turkey’s many thousands of
years of history – Assyrian, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, Lydian, Greek,
Roman... Again it was the cuneiform clay tablets that held me enthralled, some displayed
still within the clay envelopes in which they were delivered to the recipient.
The envelopes were sealed twice, once physically, thus completely enclosing the
document within, and once with the identifying seal of the sender. These seals
were carved onto metal, to be either stamped or rolled onto the clay. Tiny
figures and faces and symbols of an unbelievable detail and delicacy. We
lunched within the castle walls high above the city where restored buildings
clustered along steep narrow streets now house boutique hotels and trendy cafes
and souvenir shops. We spent our afternoon at Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, an enormous
and impressive structure housing his tomb and a museum, testament to the role
he played in creating a modern Turkey, and continues to play. A good day.
Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara
Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara
Ankara castle area
Ankara castle area
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara
Anit Kabir, Atatϋrk’s mausoleum, Ankara