New museums and ruins have been added to Turkey’s virtual museum platform, which offers a free online tour of 3D models of important sites and is designed to introduce the country’s cultural heritage through a virtual environment. The number of museums included on the online platform by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has reached 33 with the addition of 13 new museums and archaeological sites.

The cultural areas that have been added to the platform are Izmir’s Atatürk Museum and Ephesus ruins, Adıyaman’s Nemrut archaeological site, Denizli’s Hierapolis and Laodicea sites, Istanbul’s Turkish and Islamic Works Museum, Bitlis’ Ahlat Seljuk Meydan Cemetery, Uşak Museum, Mersin Archaeological Museum, Istanbul Airport Museum, Ankara’s Presidential National Struggle Exhibition, Çanakkale’s Assos Ruins and Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

While the virtual museum has been visited 11.4 million times so far, the Göbeklitepe ruins ranked first with 3,383,985 visits, followed by the War of Independence Museum with 1,869,319 visits, the Ephesus ruins with 1,350,742 visits, the Troy Museum with 1,100,147 visits and the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations with 1,031,447 visits.

The ministry will continue to increase the number of virtual museums and visitors.