Antalya Museum was founded in 1922 by Süleyman Fikri Erten to protect the artifacts rescued from the looting of the occupation forces that came to the region after the First World War. The Museum, which was first located in the Alaaddin Mosque in Kaleiçi and later in the Yivli Mosque, moved to its current building in 1972. Today, the Antalya Museum consists of 14 exhibition halls on an area of 30 thousand square meters, open-air galleries where sculptures and other artifacts are exhibited, and a garden. A significant part of the three ancient cultural regions of Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia within the borders of the Antalya Region falls within the responsibility area of the Antalya Museum.

Antalya Museum is an archaeology and history museum and can also be characterized as a regional museum. Most of the artifacts in the collection were obtained from excavations in the region. In the halls, artifacts reflecting the thousands of years of history of the land of Antalya can be seen, exhibited chronologically and sometimes according to their subjects. Antalya Museum is considered one of the most important museums in the world, especially with the Roman Period artifacts found in Perge and the interesting and unique finds from the museum's rescue excavations. The museum was awarded the "Council of Europe Museum of the Year" award in 1988.