The ancient city of Callatis is a class A historic monument (CT-I-s-A-02696), and the museum holds 4.5 on Google from more than 1,300 reviews.
About the place
Callatis was founded at the end of the 6th century BC by Dorian settlers from Heraclea Pontica, on the site of a Getic settlement. The museum grew out of the antiquities gathered in 1915 at Vasile Pârvan's initiative, opened as an archaeology museum in 1959 and has been in its present building since 1978. The exhibition covers about 450 m², and the lapidarium in the courtyard about 1,600 m².
The collection includes amphorae, pottery, Tanagra figurines, coins, fragments of Hellenistic mosaic, a capital with rams' heads and a hoard of about 9,000 bronze coins from the 3rd century AD. Next to the museum is the Papyrus Tomb, found in 1959 while the stadium was being built and reconstructed between 1959 and 1961, and beside it you can see the walls of the north-west corner of the city.
Good to know
- From 1 June to 31 August it opens daily, 9:00–18:30; the rest of the year, according to the museum's website, Monday to Friday, 9:00–17:00.
- The museum runs a guided town tour, booked by e-mail: the north-west corner, the ruins with the Syrian-type basilica, the remains inside the New Belvedere hotel and the Esmahan Sultan mosque.
- On the website you can look at objects in 3D and take a virtual tour before you go.
Opening hours
Opening hours are not confirmed. Check the venue's website before you go.