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The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) expresses great concern over the proposed demolition of the Antalya Archaeological Museum, an institution of outstanding cultural, architectural, and educational value.
As the leading scholarly organization for architectural historians in North America, SAH limits its advocacy to matters of national and international import. We assess such issues with rigor and deliberation, and do not speak without due consideration of a site’s architectural and cultural significance.
The Antalya Archaeological Museum is historically significant as the first museum project in Türkiye to result from an architectural competition, held in 1964. Designed by Doğan Tekeli, Sami Sisa, and Metin Hepgüder, the building opened in 1972 and soon became one of the country’s most important modern public buildings devoted to archaeological heritage. Its design, described by Docomomo Türkiye as exemplifying “fragmentary mass organization, modular design, and connectivity between indoor and outdoor spaces,” won the Council of Europe Museum of the Year Special Award in 1988.1 The museum stands not only as a repository of artifacts from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period but also as a cultural artifact in its own right, reflecting the mid-20th-century architectural character of the Republic and the Mediterranean region.
In July 2025, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the museum’s closure, citing seismic vulnerability, and proposed replacing it with a larger facility. Professional organizations, including the Müze Çalışma Grubu (Museum Working Group) and the Chamber of Civil Engineers (IMO) Antalya Branch, have requested the release of the seismic performance analysis report said to support this decision, but it has not yet been made public. Questions remain as to whether alternatives such as strengthening have been fully evaluated, as no feasibility or cost studies comparing retrofit and reconstruction options have been publicly shared. Additional uncertainties include differing figures given for the museum’s current and proposed size, the planned demolition of a 4,500 m² addition built in the 2000s without published technical justification, and the extent to which professional bodies have been formally consulted. Meanwhile, the museum’s collections are being packed and stored in temporary on-site containers, raising concerns over their safety and environmental conditions.
The situation of the Antalya Archaeological Museum is part of a wider pattern in Türkiye in which modern heritage and museum buildings have been closed or removed following assessments of structural condition. The Aydın Archaeological Museum (1973) was demolished in 2024; the Isparta Museum (1972) was demolished in 2018 after a repair tender earlier that year, with its replacement yet to be realized; the Ürgüp Museum (1971), architecturally akin to Antalya’s, has been closed since late 2023 for strengthening; and the Niğde Museum has been closed since the same period. Beyond museums, several modern public buildings of same period—including the İller Bankası Headquarters, the Danıştay, the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), and Etibank—have been demolished despite architectural significance and, in some cases, heritage listing.
On 7 July 2025, ICOMOS Türkiye, its national scientific committees on the 20th Century Heritage (ISC20C_tr) and on the Analysis and Restoration of Structures of Architectural Heritage (ISCARSAH_tr), the Conservation and Restoration Specialists’ Association (KorDer), and Docomomo Türkiye issued a joint declaration advocating for the preservation, strengthening, and restoration of the existing museum building.2 The SAH Heritage Conservation Committee joins the above organizations and strongly encourages the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to suspend demolition plans until the full seismic performance report, feasibility studies, and cost comparisons are made public and subject to peer review. Exploration of options for strengthening or adaptive reuse would protect both the building’s architectural heritage and the invaluable collections it houses, ensuring that the Antalya Archaeological Museum can continue to serve as a bridge between the Republic’s modern design legacy and the deep histories of the Mediterranean region.
Mary Rzepczynski
Mohammad Gharipour, Ph.D. (ex-officio member)
Ben Thomas, Ph.D. (ex-officio member)
Approved September 16, 2025.
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2 Ibid.
Cover image: Dat doris, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
