The Van Museum, hailed as "the richest museum in the world" for its Urartian artifacts, invites visitors to explore its extensive collection from various historical periods, including the Urartians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, Akkoyunlus, Karakoyunlus and Ottomans, all set within a striking contemporary architectural design since its opening in 2019. Built on a 50,000-square-meter (538,195-square-foot) area, with 10,000 square meters indoors, as part of the Ministry of Development's "Program to Support Attraction Centers," the museum displays around 3,000 out of more than 42,000 artifacts, primarily from the Urartians and various other civilizations. In addition to its unique historical artifacts, the museum features diorama sections depicting the lifestyles and wars of civilizations, organized in chronological order across 23 halls, and includes archaeological education areas for children, offering visitors a journey through time.
Van Museum Director Erdal Acar told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Van, one of the oldest cities in the world, has a history that extends from the Paleolithic period to the Seljuk and Ottoman eras. Noting that Van has hosted many civilizations due to its location on the Silk Road, Acar said: "After the earthquake disaster that struck our province in 2011, we moved to the new museum building as the old one in the city center was damaged. The foundation of our new museum building was laid in 2012, and it opened to visitors in 2019 after the completion of .
