Atatürk Mansion to be reopened to visitors soon

TRABZON

Located in the northern province of Trabzon, Atatürk Mansion, where modern Türkiye founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wrote his will, will soon reopen its doors to visitors as restoration works are nearing completion.

The mansion was closed to visitors last September as part of the survey and restoration works initiated by Trabzon Municipality.

A team of about 50 experts, consisting of civil engineers and architects, is repairing the mansion, whose exterior plasters cracked and interior furniture sustained damage.

The furniture was sent to the capital Ankara for repair, while some details of interior woodworking in the mansion, which had been lost due to the previous layers of painting, were revealed during the works.

After the restoration, the mansion will be reopened to visitors with a reception to be held on Oct. 29, on the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

Located in an area surrounded by pine trees in the Soğuksu region, the structure was built as a summer mansion by Konstantin Kabayanidis, a banker and merchant, between 1890 and 1912.

The historical building was registered by the Trabzon Provincial Administration in 1930 and assigned to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with the decision of the council in May 1931.

Atatürk, while staying in the mansion for two nights in June 1937, decided to gift all his assets to the Turkish nation and prepared a will to be sent to the prime minister for the necessary action.

In the mansion’s museum, 344 ethnographic artifacts consisting of furniture, porcelains, carpets and paintings of Atatürk belonging to the late 19th and 20th centuries are exhibited.