64 pieces worth crossing the country for, oldest first, with the museum that shows each one. Below them: 29 pieces from Anatolia still held abroad, and 14 that came home.
About 1.8 m tall and over 11,500 years old; regarded as the oldest known life-size naturalistic human statue. Found at Balıklıgöl in Şanlıurfa in 1993.
Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum · Şanlıurfa
Limestone, obsidian eyes
A 1.9 m pillar carved with stacked human and animal figures, found at Göbekli Tepe in 2010; a rare piece of the site's sculpture that can be seen up close.
Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum · Şanlıurfa
Limestone
A T-shaped figure with a small figure carved on its front, found by a farmer in 1965; it ties the Göbekli Tepe pillars to human bodies.
Adıyaman Museum · Adıyaman
Limestone
A corpulent woman seated between two felines, found in a grain bin in 1961; one of the most reproduced images of Neolithic Anatolia.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Fired clay
A mural of rows of houses under a twin-peaked mountain, often read as the oldest landscape or map painting, possibly of the volcano Hasan Dağı.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Painted plaster
Openwork discs and stag figures from the Alacahöyük royal tombs; the stag standard became the emblem of Ankara and of Turkish archaeology.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Bronze, some with silver and electrum inlay
24 gold ornaments from the period of Schliemann's 'Priam's Treasure', returned from the Penn Museum on indefinite loan in 2012 and now shown at the Troy Museum.
Troy Museum · Çanakkale (Tevfikiye)
Gold
Letters and contracts of Assyrian traders at Kanesh, the oldest written documents in Anatolia; on UNESCO's Memory of the World register since 2015.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Clay with envelopes
A four-tier relief vase showing a cult festival with musicians, acrobats and a sacred marriage; a key picture of Hittite ritual.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Painted terracotta
Relief cult vase showing a spring festival with bull-leaping acrobats, sacrifice and music; found at Hüseyindede in 1997.
Çorum Museum · Çorum
Painted terracotta
A pair of almost 1 m tall bull-shaped libation vessels from Hattusa, representing the bulls of the storm god.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Red burnished clay
Hittite copy of the peace treaty between Hattusili III and Ramesses II, found at Hattusa in 1906; the oldest surviving written peace treaty. A copy hangs at the UN in New York.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Terracotta (clay), Akkadian cuneiform
The only Hittite bronze tablet found, unearthed near the Sphinx Gate at Hattusa in 1986; it records Tudhaliya IV's treaty with his cousin Kurunta.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Bronze
A Mycenaean-type sword found at Boğazkale in 1991, inscribed that Tudhaliya dedicated it to the storm god after crushing Assuwa; physical evidence of Hittite wars in the Aegean.
Çorum Museum · Çorum
Bronze
The original relief from the inner face of Hattusa's King's Gate (a copy stands at the site); the best-known image of a Hittite warrior.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Stone
One of the two sphinxes from the Yerkapı gate at Hattusa; the one taken to Berlin was returned in 2011 and reunited with its pair, which came from Istanbul.
Boğazköy Museum · Çorum (Boğazkale)
Limestone
Around 30,000 tablets and fragments from Hattusa, the source of nearly everything known about Hittite language, law and religion; UNESCO Memory of the World since 2001.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Ankara / Istanbul
Clay
The richest Bronze Age wreck found, with 10 tonnes of copper ingots, Canaanite jars and a gold scarab bearing Nefertiti's name; a snapshot of Mediterranean trade.
Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology · Muğla (Bodrum)
Copper and tin ingots, glass, gold, ivory, ebony
Lion, bull and dragon (mušḫuššu) panels from Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon; the largest group outside Berlin.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Glazed brick
A bride's song to King Shu-Sin, often called the world's oldest love poem; from the Nippur excavations.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Clay, cuneiform
Fragments of the oldest known law code, three centuries older than Hammurabi's, excavated at Nippur.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Clay, cuneiform
Part of a cuneiform archive of about 75,000 tablets, one of the largest in the world, kept from the Ottoman-era excavations.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Clay
Hebrew inscription recording the cutting of Hezekiah's tunnel in Jerusalem; one of the oldest Hebrew texts. Israel has asked repeatedly for it.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Limestone
A schoolboy-style list of the farming year, among the oldest known Hebrew or Phoenician writing.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums (Museum of the Ancient Orient) · Istanbul
Limestone
A Greek notice barring non-Jews from the inner courts of Herod's Temple on pain of death; the only complete example.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Limestone
An Egyptian anthropoid coffin reused for King Tabnit of Sidon, with a Phoenician curse on anyone who opens it; his body was found floating in preserved liquid in 1887.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Basalt
Processional reliefs with Luwian hieroglyphs from the Neo-Hittite city on the Euphrates; the core of the museum's great hall.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Basalt and limestone
Inlaid wooden serving stands, a table and bronze cauldrons from the intact royal tomb at Gordion, the best-preserved Iron Age furniture known; residues showed the funeral feast menu.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations · Ankara
Wood with inlay, bronze
432 pieces looted from tumuli near Güre in the 1960s, shown at the Met in New York, and returned in 1993 after a legal fight; linked by tradition to King Croesus.
Uşak Archaeology Museum · Uşak
Gold, silver, bronze, marble, wall paintings
The Karun Treasure's signature piece, stolen from the museum in 2005 and replaced with a fake, then recovered from Germany in 2013.
Uşak Archaeology Museum · Uşak
Gold
Embossed belts, shields and bull-headed cauldron attachments from the kingdom centred on Lake Van, rival of Assyria.
Van Museum · Van
Bronze
Found at Sidon by Osman Hamdi Bey in 1887; carved with Alexander fighting Persians, probably made for Abdalonymos, king of Sidon. The founding treasure of Türkiye's first museum.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Pentelic marble with paint traces
Shaped like a small Ionic temple with eighteen grieving women between the columns; from the same royal necropolis at Sidon.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
Named for its tall Lycian-style ogival lid; carved with hunting scenes, sphinxes and centaurs.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
Shows a Persian-style ruler hunting, feasting and lying in state; a mix of Greek carving and Persian court imagery.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
Found at Gümüşçay in 1994, with the sacrifice of Polyxena at Achilles' tomb; the earliest known sarcophagus with a Trojan War scene.
Troy Museum · Çanakkale (Tevfikiye)
Marble
A near-complete statue signed by Menas of Pergamon, found at Magnesia ad Sipylum (Manisa); one of the best Alexander portraits.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
A portrait head with the famous upturned gaze and wind-swept hair, from the lower agora of Pergamon.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
About 1,900 coins dug up illegally in 1984, including 14 Athenian decadrachms (only 13 were known before); returned from the US in 1999.
Antalya Museum · Antalya
Silver
The upper jaw of one of the three snake heads of the Plataea victory monument brought from Delphi to the Hippodrome by Constantine.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Bronze
A reclining skeleton with a wine jug and the Greek words 'be cheerful, enjoy your life', found in 2016 during construction in Antakya.
Hatay Archaeology Museum · Hatay (Antakya)
Stone tesserae
A haunting face from a Dionysian floor at Zeugma, now the symbol of Gaziantep; 12 missing fragments came back from Bowling Green State University in 2018.
Zeugma Mosaic Museum · Gaziantep
Stone and glass tesserae
A near life-size bronze of the war god found at Zeugma before the Birecik dam flooded much of the city in 2000.
Zeugma Mosaic Museum · Gaziantep
Bronze
One of the Zeugma villa floors rescued during the 2000 dam emergency excavation; part of the largest mosaic museum in the world by area.
Zeugma Mosaic Museum · Gaziantep
Stone tesserae
Hunting Amazon queens such as Penthesilea and Hippolyta and scenes from Achilles' life, found under a planned amusement park in 2006.
Şanlıurfa Haleplibahçe Mosaic Museum · Şanlıurfa
Stone tesserae
One of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics, from the villas of Antioch and Daphne; it came through the 2023 earthquakes.
Hatay Archaeology Museum · Hatay (Antakya)
Stone and glass tesserae
Lower half excavated at Perge in 1980; the looted upper half sat in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts until the two were reunited in 2011.
Antalya Museum · Antalya
Marble
Carved with Herakles' twelve labours; looted and returned from Germany in 1998.
Antalya Museum · Antalya
Marble
The 'Great' and 'Beautiful' Artemis with their many-breasted (or egg- or gourd-hung) chests, found in the Prytaneion; icons of the cult of the Temple of Artemis.
Ephesus Museum · İzmir (Selçuk)
Marble
Some 70 panels from a temple to the emperors, including Claudius subduing Britannia and Nero conquering Armenia.
Aphrodisias Museum · Aydın (Geyre)
Marble
A young man in a cloak leaning on a pillar, found at Tralles (Aydın); admired for its relaxed, introspective pose.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
A 32-tonne columnar sarcophagus from Ambar (Konya), with the deceased couple reclining on the lid.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums · Istanbul
Marble
Hunting, pastoral and fighting scenes from a palace peristyle, the largest surviving secular Byzantine mosaic.
Great Palace Mosaics Museum · Istanbul
Stone and glass tesserae
Links of the boom chain that closed the Golden Horn to enemy ships; Mehmed II bypassed it in 1453 by dragging ships overland.
Istanbul Military Museum · Istanbul
Iron
37 ships found during the Marmaray rail works from 2004, the largest medieval shipwreck find in the world.
Istanbul Archaeology Museums / Istanbul University · Istanbul
Wood
A merchant ship carrying three tonnes of Islamic glass, much of it painstakingly reassembled; with its hull it forms the museum's Glass Wreck hall.
Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology · Muğla (Bodrum)
Glass, wood
Found in Konya's Alaeddin Mosque in 1905; among the oldest surviving Turkish knotted carpets.
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts · Istanbul
Hand-knotted wool
A surviving fragment of the admiral's world map, one of the earliest to show the Americas, based partly on a lost Columbus map; rediscovered in 1929.
Topkapı Palace Library · Istanbul
Ink on gazelle-skin parchment
Made as Mahmud I's gift to Nadir Shah, it came back when the Shah was murdered before delivery; three large emeralds and a watch in the hilt. Made famous by the 1964 film Topkapi.
Topkapı Palace Museum · Istanbul
Gold, diamonds, enamel, emeralds
A pear-shaped 86-carat stone ringed by 49 diamonds; legend says a fisherman traded it to a spoonmaker for three spoons.
Topkapı Palace Museum · Istanbul
86-carat diamond, 49 smaller diamonds, silver
The gold-clad throne used at accessions and festivals from the late 16th century until the end of the empire.
Topkapı Palace Museum · Istanbul
Walnut, gold plating, peridots
The Mantle of the Prophet Muhammad, his standard, swords and other relics brought after Selim I's conquest of Egypt; the Qur'an has been recited beside them continuously.
Topkapı Palace Museum · Istanbul
Textile, metal, wood
Taken after the Ottoman victory over Shah Ismail at Chaldiran in 1514.
Topkapı Palace Museum · Istanbul
Gold, enamel, rubies, emeralds
The best-known Turkish painting, by the founder of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums; bought in 2004 for a record price.
Pera Museum · Istanbul
Oil on canvas
Taken in the 19th and 20th centuries, some under agreements with the Ottoman government and some looted. Status as of the dates in each row.
| Piece | From | Now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pergamon Altar (Great Altar of Zeus), incl. Gigantomachy frieze Hellenistic, Attalid kingdom (2nd c. BC) | Pergamon, İzmir | Pergamonmuseum Berlin | Claimed Held abroad. Named by Türkiye among sought items (2012); Germany considers it legally acquired |
| Market Gate of Miletus Roman (2nd c. AD) | Miletus, Aydın | Pergamonmuseum Berlin | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Temple of Athena Polias, Pergamon (architecture and sculpture) Hellenistic (3rd–2nd c. BC) | Pergamon, İzmir | Pergamonmuseum Berlin | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Sculpture and architecture from Priene and Magnesia on the Maeander Hellenistic | Priene; Magnesia on the Maeander, Aydın | Pergamonmuseum / Antikensammlung Berlin | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| 'Old Fisherman' marble torso Roman | Aphrodisias (as reported), Aydın | Berlin State Museums (Antikensammlung) Berlin | Claimed Türkiye is seeking repatriation; unresolved as of March 2026 |
| Orthostat reliefs and gate lions of Sam'al (Zincirli) Neo-Hittite / Aramaean (10th–8th c. BC) | Sam'al / Zincirli Höyük, Gaziantep | Vorderasiatisches Museum (Pergamonmuseum) Berlin | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Treasure of Priam (Troy gold, 'Jewels of Helen') Troy II, Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–2300 BC) | Troy (Hisarlık), Çanakkale | Pushkin Museum (most); some pieces in the State Hermitage Moscow / St Petersburg | Claimed Held abroad. Claimed by Türkiye and by Germany; Russia keeps it under its 1998 trophy-art law |
| Troy jewellery (24 gold pieces) Early Bronze Age | Troy region, Çanakkale | Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania) Philadelphia | On loan home Lent to Türkiye indefinitely in 2012 (loan, not transfer of title) |
| Sculptures of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Amazonomachy frieze, 'Mausolus' and 'Artemisia', chariot horse) Achaemenid Caria, Hecatomnid dynasty (c. 350 BC) | Halicarnassus, Muğla | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Nereid Monument Lycian, Achaemenid period (c. 390–380 BC) | Xanthos, Antalya | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Harpy Tomb reliefs, Payava Tomb and other Xanthian tombs Lycian (5th–4th c. BC) | Xanthos, Antalya | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; casts stand on site |
| Sculptured column drums of the Temple of Artemis Classical / Hellenistic (4th c. BC) | Ephesus, İzmir | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Temple of Athena Polias sculpture and Alexander the Great's dedication inscription Hellenistic (4th c. BC) | Priene, Aydın | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Lion of Knidos and Demeter of Knidos Hellenistic (c. 350–200 BC) | Knidos, Muğla | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Seated statues of the Sacred Way (Branchidae) Archaic Ionian (6th c. BC) | Didyma, Aydın | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Carchemish orthostat reliefs (part) Neo-Hittite (10th–8th c. BC) | Carchemish (Karkamış), Gaziantep | British Museum London | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Stele (1st c. BC) Hellenistic / Roman | Not stated, — | British Museum London | Claimed Named by Türkiye in 2012 among sought items; not returned |
| Child sarcophagus head (3rd c. BC) Hellenistic | Not stated, — | Victoria and Albert Museum London | Claimed Named by Türkiye in 2012 among sought items; not returned |
| İznik tile panels from Hagia Sophia (Selim II türbe area; 1,577 tiles cited) Ottoman (16th c.) | Hagia Sophia complex, Istanbul | Louvre (shown at Louvre-Lens) Paris / Lens | Claimed Türkiye is seeking repatriation; unresolved as of March 2026 |
| Frieze of the Temple of Artemis Leukophryene Hellenistic (c. 200 BC) | Magnesia on the Maeander, Aydın | Louvre Paris | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Temple of Athena reliefs Archaic (6th c. BC) | Assos, Çanakkale | Louvre (also finds in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Paris / Boston | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Parthian Monument reliefs (Great Antonine Altar) and Bronze Athlete (Apoxyomenos) Roman (2nd c. AD) | Ephesus, İzmir | Ephesos Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum) Vienna | Held abroad Held abroad. Ephesus has been a recurring point of friction; Austrian excavations were halted by Türkiye 2016–2018 |
| Heroon of Trysa reliefs Lycian (c. 380 BC) | Trysa (Gölbaşı), Antalya | Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| Ionic column from the Temple of Artemis Hellenistic (c. 300 BC) | Sardis, Manisa | Metropolitan Museum of Art New York | Held abroad Held abroad; no return |
| 18 objects from the Norbert Schimmel collection (Hittite and Anatolian) Bronze Age to classical | Various, Anatolia, — | Metropolitan Museum of Art New York | Claimed Claimed by Türkiye since 2012 (criminal complaint filed in Türkiye); not returned |
| Sion Treasure (Kumluca church silver, main part) Byzantine (6th c.) | Kumluca, Antalya | Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard) Washington, DC | Claimed Claimed by Türkiye since 1968; not returned (rest of the treasure is in Antalya Museum) |
| Marble muses (four statues, part of 10 objects Türkiye asked for) Roman (c. 200 AD) | Cremna, Burdur | J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles | Claimed Named by Türkiye in 2012; not returned |
| Antioch mosaics Roman / late Roman (2nd–6th c.) | Antioch (Antakya), Daphne and Seleucia Pieria, Hatay | Princeton, Baltimore Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Louvre, Dumbarton Oaks and others Various | Held abroad Held abroad; acquired legally under the partage of the time |
| Bubon bronzes (imperial portrait statues, remaining pieces) Roman imperial (2nd–3rd c.) | Bubon, Burdur | Various US and European collections Various | Held abroad Several returned 2024–2025 (see rows below); others still held abroad |
| Piece | From | Now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sphinx of Hattusa (Boğazköy Sphinx) Hittite (17th–13th c. BC) | Hattusa (Boğazköy), Çorum | Returned from the Pergamonmuseum Boğazköy (Çorum) | Came home Returned 2011 |
| Boğazköy cuneiform tablets (thousands) Hittite | Hattusa (Boğazköy), Çorum | Returned from Berlin Ankara | Held abroad Many returned by the GDR in 1987 (from memory, not checked against a primary source) |
| Weary Herakles (upper half) Roman (2nd c. AD) | Perge, Antalya | Returned from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Antalya | Came home Returned 2011 and rejoined to the lower half in Antalya Museum |
| Lydian Hoard (Karun Treasure) Lydian (6th c. BC) | Uşak area (Güre tumuli), Uşak | Returned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Uşak | Came home Returned 1993 after a lawsuit; the winged seahorse brooch was stolen from Uşak museum in 2005 and recovered in 2013 |
| Elmalı Hoard (decadrachm hoard) Archaic Greek / Lycian coins (5th c. BC) | Elmalı, Antalya | Returned from a US collector Antalya | Came home Returned 1999 after a lawsuit |
| Orpheus mosaic Roman (2nd c. AD) | Edessa region, Şanlıurfa | Returned from the Dallas Museum of Art Şanlıurfa | Came home Returned December 2012 |
| Zeugma mosaic fragments (12 pieces) Roman | Zeugma, Gaziantep | Returned from Bowling Green State University Gaziantep | Came home Returned 2018 |
| Sarcophagus of the Labours of Herakles Roman (2nd c. AD) | Perge, Antalya | Returned from Switzerland (Geneva) Antalya | Came home Returned 2017 |
| Bronze head of a young man Roman (1st c. BC–1st c. AD) | Bubon, Burdur | Returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum Ankara | Came home Returned September 2024 with 13 other objects from US collections |
| Bronze kline (reclining couch) Lydian / Achaemenid | Manisa province, Manisa | Returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum — | Came home Returned 2024 |
| Kore torso Archaic Greek | Miletus, Aydın | Returned from the UK — | Came home Returned 2024 |
| Headless bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius Roman (2nd–3rd c. AD) | Bubon, Burdur | Returned from the Cleveland Museum of Art Ankara | Held abroad Surrendered by Cleveland after a Manhattan DA investigation; returned 2025 |
| 41 polychrome terracotta temple reliefs Phrygian (6th c. BC) | Düver, Burdur | Returned from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts — | Came home Returned 2025 with the Manhattan DA's Office |
| Anatolian-style marble head Roman | Not stated, — | Returned from the Denver Art Museum — | Came home Returned January 2026 |