CORUM Hattusas - Bogazkoy

Hattusas, otherwise called “Bogazkoy” is within the boundaries of Corum. Hattusas, known as the capitol of the Great Hittite Empire and Yazilikaya were first discovered in 1834.

Between 1835-1894 individual studies were carried out by several foreign archaeologists and from 1906 on excavation works were started by the German Archaeology Institute and the German Eastern Cultures Research Center. Four gates on the 7 km long city wall and temples from Hittite period inside the wall were unearthed.

The excavations which were interrupted for a while started again in 1931. The studies are still being carried out. The first settlements In Bogazkoy which was declared as National Park in 1998 date back to the Calcholitic Age. Buyukkale was the actual center of Hattusas which was included in the Hittite territory after the First Bronze Age.In the excavations carried out in Buyukkale and Yazilikaya temples tablets with cuneiform inscriptions and seals covering a broad segment from the Early Hittite period until Late Hittite Period (2000 BC – 9th and 6th centuries BC) were found. The Great temple is situated in the Lower City.

The Open Temple in Yazilikaya is also one of the most important places of the Hittite Civilization. The tablets found here shed light on history. After the Hittites, the region was ruled by the Phyrigs, Meds, Ghalats, Romans and Byzantines. The opuses found here during the archaeological studies are displayed in Bogazkale Museum.

The museum which was opened on 12 September 1966 is a local museum where monuments found during the Bogazkoy (Hattusas) excavations and those gathered from the neighbourhood are displayed and stored. In the museum where opuses mainly coming from the Hittite period are displayed, opuses from the Old Bronze, Phrygian, Roman and Byzantine period are displayed as well.