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The ancient king's throne room and living quarters at Arslantepe Palace have opened to visitors for the first time as the Türkiye Culture Route Festival kicked off in the eastern city of Malatya on Saturday.
The opening came after a new protective roof project was completed at Arslantepe Hoyuk, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed archaeological mound. The project also renewed the site's visitor routes, landscaping, ticketing facilities and security infrastructure while adding new roof extensions to protect excavated sections of the palace.
Running through Aug. 16, the Malatya Culture Route Festival will bring together 149 events across the city, ranging from exhibitions and traditional arts workshops to film screenings, gastronomy programs, children's activities and concerts.
During the festival's opening ceremony at the Arslantepe Visitor Center, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Nadir Alpaslan said the archaeological site had been home to one of the earliest city-state formations.
With the completion of the latest work, visitors can now enter the king's throne room and living area inside Arslantepe Palace for the first time.
The project also reorganized walking routes and added new pathways to make it easier for visitors to move around the site, while ticket booths and security towers were renewed.
Alpaslan said the festival would also showcase Malatya's tangible and intangible cultural heritage, referring to traditions, practices and skills passed down through generations alongside the city's physical heritage.
Another major cultural site returned to visitors on the festival's opening day, as Malatya Archaeology Museum reopened following restoration and structural reinforcement after being damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes.
The museum's exhibition halls, administrative areas and storage facilities were renewed as part of the project.
Its lower floor brings together artifacts uncovered during excavations at Arslantepe as well as coin collections, while the upper floor displays finds from scientific and rescue excavations carried out across Malatya and the Upper Euphrates Basin.
A dedicated exhibition space has also been set up for finds from Akcadag Arga Hoyuk, while a reconstruction related to the Darende Masattepe Tumulus has been opened to visitors.
The festival will also put Malatya's local cuisine in the spotlight through 31 designated food locations across the city center and surrounding districts.
Visitors will be able to try regional specialties including apricots, kagit kebabi, anali kizli kofte and kiraz yapragi sarmasi. Chef Omur Akkor will host events bringing guest chefs and gastronomy writers to selected venues.
Exhibitions will run alongside the food program, including "Ottoman Sacred Relics" at the Arslantepe Visitor Center and "Living Heritage: Malatya" at the Malatya Congress and Culture Center.
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The festival will round out its program with free concerts at 100. Yil City Park over nine days.
Hakan Altun, Simge, Kirac, Serkan Kaya, Derya Ulug, Ceza, Oguzhan Koc, Sefo and Ferhat Gocer are scheduled to perform before the festival wraps up on Aug. 16.
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