As part of its temporary exhibition programme the Vehbi Koç Foundation Sadberk Hanım Museum's Traces of Ancient Ages Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection exhibition will be open from 6 December 2013 to 25 May 2014. Sadberk Hanım Museum opened on 14 October 1980 as Turkey's first private museum and this year celebrates its thirty-third anniversary. The collection of Turkish and Islamic artefacts gathered by Sadberk Koç formed the original nucleus of the museum collection which has since been greatly expanded by donations and purchases. With the purchase of the Hüseyin Kocabaş collection in 1983 the museum branched out into the field of antiquities.
The Turkish and Islamic collection is housed in Azaryan Yalısı a historic waterfront house on the Bosphorus strait dating from the late 19th century while the archaeological collection is exhibited in the adjoining the Sevgi Gönül Building which was restored and opened in 1988. The Archaeological Section of Sadberk Hanım Museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The collection consisting of nearly 7000 objects ranges from the Late Neolithic Age to the Byzantine Period making it possible to trace the course of successive Anatolian civilizations through their material culture. Archaeological Section of the museum has steadily grown over the years with the purchase of rare items from overseas auctions and the acquisition of registered collections. Sadberk Hanım Museum Archaeological Section will have been open for 25 years in 2013 and it was decided to celebrate this anniversary with an exhibition entitled Traces of Ancient Ages presenting 150 works that throw light on the periods to which they belong. These have been selected to best reflect the collection's comprehensive chronological scope. Exhibits comprise vessels stone tools and figurines belonging to the Hacılar culture that represent the Late Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic ages in the Lakes Region; idols spouted jugs and bronze weapons belonging to the Yortan Troy and Alacahöyük cultures of the Early Bronze Age in western and central Anatolia; cuneiform tablets seals and libation vessels belonging to the Assyrian Trading Colonies Hittite and Mycenaean cultures of the Middle and Late Bronze Age; pottery and jewellery belonging to the Urartian Phrygian and Lydian kingdoms of Iron Age Anatolia; Geometric Period Carian pottery with its wealth of forms and decoration; Attic red and black figure vases decorated with mythological and epic scenes representing cultures of the Archaic and Classical periods; Hellenistic Period gold jewellery terracotta figurines and mould-made red slip pottery; statuary glass vessels and jewellery from the Roman Period and finally mainly metal artefacts representing Byzantine culture which combined mediaeval Christian belief with the traditions of Roman art to create its own unique artistic idiom.