Antalya Museum (Antalya Müzesi) was founded in 1922 by teacher Süleyman Fikri Erten to protect the artifacts saved from the pillage of the occupation forces who came to the region after the First World War. The museum, which was first located in the Alaaddin Mosque (Alaaddin Cami) in Kaleiçi and later in the Yivli Mosque (Yivli Cami), has been moved to its current building of 1972. The Antalya Museum today consists of 14 exhibition halls on an area of 30 thousand square meters, open-air galleries where sculptures and various artifacts are exhibited, and a garden. The responsibility region of Antalya Museum is a significant part of Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia, three ancient cultural regions within the borders of Antalya Region, which is one of the spots with the richest history of Anatolian lands that have witnessed the history of humanity. Scientists from many countries conduct scientific excavations every year in Antalya, which is a unique open-air museum and an international excavation center with its archaeological richness. Numerous salvage excavations and landscaping works in the region are carried out by the Antalya Museum.
Antalya Museum is a museum of archeology and history also known to be described as a regional museum. Most of the works in the collection were obtained from excavations in the region, and the ethnographic works were compiled by museum experts from the region. In the halls, artifacts that reflect the thousands of years of history of Antalya lands, which started with the first human and lasted uninterruptedly until today, are exhibited according to their chronological and local subjects. The Antalya Museum is considered among the most important museums in the world, especially with the sculptures of the Roman Period found in Perge and the interesting and unique finds unearthed from the museum salvage excavations in recent years. The museum was awarded by Council of Europe with Museum of the Year award in 1988.