The Izmir Archaeology and Ethnography Museum are 2 separate museums located side by side on the hill at Bahribaba Park, just a short walk from Konak.
The Archaeology Museum is blessed with Greek and Roman relics taken from its neighbouring ancient cities. Here you’ll find elaborately decorated sarcophagi and tomb carvings, an extraordinarily well-preserved frieze depicting the 250BC funeral games at the Belevi mausoleum, and an enormous Domitian statue taken from Ephesus.
The Ethnography Museum next door eclipses this collection with a number of items originally belonging to Ataturk – Turkey’s founder. Set in a handsome stone building (1831) that began its life as a hospital, the museum exhibits and displays demonstrate local art, craft and customs such as pottery, jewellery, carpet and weapon making as well as the rather bizzare sport of camel wrestling.
