The Old Adana House in Adana Regional Museum,
In the summer stone objects from the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods are displayed in the garden of the museum together with a nomad tent. Among the unique works in the Adana Regional Museum are a statute of a God wearing a pointed hat made of natural crystal, dating from the Hittite Empire period, found during excavations at Gozlukule, a bas-relief style dating from the Late Hittites period, made of basalt and depicting a man and wife, a bronze Adak inscription and Urartu belts brought from Van and dated at 600 BC, a gold and silver bracelet decorated with two rams’ heads, dating from the 4th Century BC and found in Mersin, a bas-relief of a man’s head made of limestone dating from the 2nd Century BC Roman period found in Tarsus, a gold ring depicting a woman’s head dating from the Roman period, and a cornelian stone ring from the Roman period. Among the sarcophagi at the Adana Museum which is especially worth mentioning is the bas-relief Akileus Sarcophagus, made of marble, and dating from the 2nd Century AD Roman period. The total number of works in the museum exceeds eighteen thousand, and there is an archive containing 449 volumes of canonical records. The Karatepe Open Air Museum: Excavations were carried out at the site of a Late Hittite city dated at 700-730 BC, in Karatepe 23 km. southeast of the district of Kadirli in Adana, and the walls and gates of the city were uncovered. The inscribed orthostats and bas-reliefs along the length of the inner walls were left in place and restored, a roof supported by concrete columns built over the works and thus the Open Air Museum was established.
The dark-colored basalt bas-relief depicts scenes of feasts, musicians, a bull being led away, the God of Storm, and various palace activities. There is Hittite hieroglyphic writing on the stones. The castle measures 430 m. from north to south, and 190 m. from east to west. There are remains of a wall whose breadth varies from 2-4 m, with towers at 18-20 m. intervals.
The Misis Mosaic Museum:
Misis is 27 km. to the east of Adana. In an excavation carried out on the western side of Misis Barrow in 1956, was found a mosaic floor of a mosque dating from the 3rd Century AD Late Roman period. After the mosaics had been repaired and cleaned they were covered with a glass construction and opened to the public as a museum in 1959. The mosaic depicts the domestic and wild animals which Noah took into his ark. Flower and geometric designs enhance the beauty of the mosaic.
