The Archaeological Museum of Istanbul consists of three museums: the Archaeology Museum, the Ancient Orient Museum (with collections of pre-Islamic items gathered from the expanse of the Ottoman Empire), and the Islamic Art Museum, also known as the Tiled Kiosk Museum, contains many examples of Iznik tiles and Seljuk pottery. It was founded by master painter, Osman Hamdi Bey, famous for the Tortoise Trainer painting at the Pera Museum.

Istanbul's Archaeological Museum houses treasures from the Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman civilizations. The Lycian Sarcophagus, depicts scenes from Greek mythology as well as griffons, centaurs, and sphinxes. The Alexander Sarcophagus is covered in scenes of the Alexander the Great, is considered among the worldwide jewels of archaeological findings. The Treaty of Kadesh, the oldest peace treaty in the world, written in cuneiform script, signed in 1274 and discovered in the Hittite capital of Hattusa.