Kahramanmaraş Museum holds thirty thousand objects, from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, arranged in seven display halls: the skeleton of an Anatolian elephant; the excavation at Direkli Cave, shown with reconstructions; the excavation at Domuztepe, likewise reconstructed; the Maraş lion and Hittite works; mosaics; stone works and stelae; and archaeological material arranged in order of date. A separate section shows coins, and there is a display complex in the garden.
The museum is not in its first home. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, a rudimentary museum of standing stones already existed at Kahramanmaraş Castle in the time of the Dulkadir principality. The first museum proper opened in 1947 in the Taş Medrese, moved in 1961 to the castle, and moved again in 1975 to the building it occupies today on Azerbaycan Boulevard. The foundation of an annexe was laid in 1977; a new design to finish it was begun in September 2003, and the museum opened in its present form in May 2012.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Kahramanmaraş as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 4.9 °C in January to 28.5 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (131 mm) and lightest in August (2 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 08:00 - 17:00
