Nigde, a city of the Central Anatolia Region, bears witness to a continuous habitation from the Paleolithic Period right up to the modern day. There is much evidence of the groups and civilisations involved in thousands of years of cultural accumulation. In museums can be found irrefutable proof of these cultures and civilisations and a wealth of unique artworks are restored, protected and displayed therein. In this context the Nigde Museum of Anatolian Archaeology is a good example of the variety and distinction of the artworks to be found.
The Museum in Nigde has its origins in 1939 when operations began in the Akmedrese. During the Second World War the madrasa was used as a storage facility for the Istanbul Museum of Archaeology. After restoration Nigde Museum was established in 1957; it was opened to visitors and began its own displays and exhibitions.
The museum was moved to a new building in 1977 and its first exhibition there opened on the 20th November 1982. This continued until the 16th November 1999. Realising there was a need to display the many and unique objects found in ongoing excavations in a contemporary and sympathetic way the museum underwent an overhaul. On completion of these works the museum opened to the public again on the 20th November 2001.
The latest exhibition was entered by the Ministry as a candidate for “European Museum of the Year 2003”. And although it was short listed by the committee that came from Germany and France it did not win an award. This year it has been selected as a pilot case by the US World Culture Heritage Protection Fund, one of the aims of the project is to re-render all the artefacts in a digital format. This process is an example of how Turkish museums are progressing.
In the Nigde Museum can be found 6 saloons that present the archaeology of Central Anatolia chronologically. The vast majority of the artefacts on display are from ongoing excavations in the region.