20 Lira Sculpture Workshop of Yesemek

Yesemek, located in Gaziantep province, is one of the largest known open-air sculpture workshops and quarries of the ancient Near East, operating primarily under Hittite and later Neo-Hittite administration from roughly the 14th century BC onward. The site was rediscovered by Felix von Luschan during late 19th-century Ottoman-era excavations, with over 300 unfinished basalt sculptures still lying where ancient craftsmen abandoned them — some mid-carving. Turkey's broader numismatic program documenting UNESCO-listed and candidate heritage sites produced this issue, part of a recurring silver series the Central Bank has used since the early 2000s to document archaeological patrimony.