It showcases on 13,000 m2 a large archaeological and ethnographic record of human life and cultural development in the lake Van region from eastern Anatolia’s Stone Age to the present.

[3] Among the artefacts from the Urartu kingdom, which originated in the 9th century BCE and became a civilisation that excelled in art, technology and metallurgy until its demise in the 6th century BCE, are weapons, everyday objects and stelae with sculptural decoration and cuneiform inscriptions.

[4] There is a large ethnographic collection of kilims and rugs but without mentioning the rich local Kurdish tradition of this craft.

The warrior-men, always holding a drinking vessel in their upraised right hand, are equipped with weapons and wear a dagger suspended on a belt.

Remaining areas of the stelae are filled with small-sized animals or feature yurts of the Asian steppes thus indicating the nomadic or semi nomadic nature of a society that lived across this rugged landscape of Hakkari.