Through the Outer Gardens of the Saray - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 92

the atrium of Haghia Eirene, which is only a few feet higher than
the level of the courtyard. One may hope that more serious and
competent excavations will soon be carried out.
We now leave the precincts of Haghia Eirene and take the path
which leads to the gate on the left side of the First Court. The
building complex to the left of the gate is the Darphane, the former
Imperial Mint and Treasury. This has been restored and is now open
to the public; there is little of great interest to be seen except when
there are special exhibitions or cultural events. At the lower entrance
to the Darphane we see on the right the general entrance to the
Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the Ancient Orient and the
Çinili Köşk.
As we enter the courtyard the first building on our left is the
Museum of the Ancient Orient. The entrance to the museum is
flanked by two basalt lions of the neo-Hittite period (ca. 800 B.C.).
The museum houses a unique collection of pre-Islamic Arab artifacts
mostly from the Yemen, along with Babylonian, Neo-Hittite and
Assyrian antiquities, including a series of the superb faience panels
of lions and monsters, yellow on a blue ground, that once adorned
the processional way to the Isthar gate at Babylon. Notable exhibits
include the statue of a deified Babylonian king from the beginning
of the second millennium B.C.; inscribed tablets with the Code of
Hammurabi (1750 B.C.) and the Treaty of Kadesh (1286 B.C.);
reliefs and colossal statues of the neo-Hittite period; a small Egyptian
collection; and a selection of cuneiform cylinders for which the
museum is famous. The collection as a whole is not large but is of
the greatest historical importance. The building has recently been
restored and the collection reorganized, thus making this one of the
most interesting and attractive museums of antiquities in Europe.
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
The Archaeological Museum occupies the whole right side and far
end of the courtyard. The modern history of the museum can be
said to date from 1881, when Osman Hamdi Bey was made director.
Over the next three decades, until his death in 1910, Osman Hamdi
Bey succeeded in establishing the modern institution which we