Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeology Museum & The Museum Hotel Antakya (world's largest single-piece mosaic)

The Museum Hotel Antakya and the publicly owned Necmi Asfuroğlu Archaeology Museum beneath it form one of the world's rarest "living archaeology" experiences.

Discovery and History

The story began in 2009, when the Asfuroğlu family broke ground on a luxury hotel in the Küçükdalyan-Haraparası district north of the old town and unearthed extraordinary remains of ancient Antioch (Antakya) in the foundation trenches. Over a ten-year excavation and construction project, some 35,000 artifacts spanning roughly 2,300 years and thirteen civilizations came to light. The most spectacular is the world's largest single-piece floor mosaic, reaching about 1,050 square meters; the dig also yielded the first entirely intact marble statue of the Greek god Eros ever found. Faced with these discoveries, the project became far more a museum than a hotel.

Architecture and Engineering

The architectural solution, by award-winning Turkish architect Emre Arolat, was to "float" the entire 200-room hotel above the ruins so as not to touch them. Resting on 66 steel columns, the structure uses roughly 20,000 tons of hand-welded steel, about four times the amount in the Eiffel Tower, and its cost exceeded 120 million dollars. Visitors thus walk on suspended bridges among ancient baths, streets, shops and mosaic-paved rooms, beneath the modern hotel hanging overhead.

Earthquake Resilience and Current Status

Its cultural weight goes beyond engineering: when the earthquakes of 6 February 2023 destroyed much of Antakya's historic fabric, the steel-framed hotel and museum were among the rare structures to survive undamaged, becoming a symbol of Hatay's rebirth. After partial wall cracks were repaired, the museum reopened on 11 June and the hotel returned to full service in September 2024.

Visiting and Access

Its tourism value is high: what makes it indispensable on agency itineraries is that, at a time when many monuments remain closed or under reconstruction, it offers a climate-controlled, fully accessible and visually striking indoor site that can be toured without difficulty. The average visit runs 45 minutes to an hour, comfortably covering the mosaic hall and suspended-walkway route. The museum is open daily 08:30-17:00 (last entry 16:30) and, since April 2025, hosts a temporary exhibition of 51 works loaned from Gaziantep's Zeugma Mosaic Museum. On guided tours it is usually the first morning stop, from which groups move on to the Apostle Peter's cave church of St. Pierre (about a 13-minute walk), the Hatay Archaeology Museum, the Habib-i Neccar Mosque and the Uzun Çarşı bazaar.

The best photo spots are the suspended walkways, where light filtering between the steel columns frames the mosaics, and the upper terraces that look down onto the world's largest mosaic. Access is easy: it lies about 22 km from Hatay Airport, within walking distance of the intercity bus terminal, and the Necmi Asfuroğlu car park at the city's northern entrance readily accommodates tour coaches. The building is wheelchair-accessible via ramps and lifts. The ideal time to visit is spring (April-June) and autumn (September-October); summers are hot and humid, so the cool interior is an advantage during the midday heat, while the peak season falls over the summer holidays and public-holiday periods. Recommended route: begin the day here, then see St. Pierre and the Archaeology Museum, and break for the Harbiye waterfalls and künefe in the afternoon.