New Usak Museum to house renowned Karun treasures

Construction has begun on a modern museum that will house the famous Karun treasure, the symbol of the Aegean province of Uşak, as part of a new museum complex in the Historical Usak Train Station. Talks on establishing a museum complex in the Historical Usak Train Station lasted four years. The foundation of the Usak Archaeology Museum will be laid by Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay, and the project will be finished by the end of 2013. The Karun Treasure, which dates back to the period of the Lydian King Croesus between 560 and 546 BC, was unearthed from the tumulus, or burial mounds, near the Gure district on the Izmir highway in 1960. It is also widely known as the Lydian Treasure. The treasure, one of the most significant works in the Lydian period, was smuggled from Usak within three years between 1965 and 1968. The first smuggling took place in Toptepe Tumulus in 1965. A group of five people dug a tunnel and reached the burial chamber. They sold the artifacts for 65,000 Turkish Liras. Later, in 1966, the Ikiztepe tumulus was looted by 11 people and 150 pieces in the burial chamber were sold for 150,000 liras. A third robbery took place in 1968 in the Aktepe tumulus. The paintings and other artifacts were sold for 40,000 liras. The entire treasure was discovered in 1985 at the New York Metropolitan Museum by journalist Ozgen Acar. The Culture Ministry filed a lawsuit in 1987 to get back the treasure, which was kept in the depot of the museum. As a result of the legal process, which cost $40 million, the treasure was returned to Turkey in 1993.