Atatürk’s personal belongings under conservation

ÇANAKKALE

Within the scope of the “curtains are opening” project at Troy Museum, where artifacts from the 5,600-year-old Troy Ruins are exhibited, conservation work has been carried out for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s suitcase, shoes, slippers, fork, knife, sugar bowl and silver box from the republican era. Visitors to the museum had the opportunity to watch the conservation work of Atatürk’s personal belongings.

With the project, which was launched seven months ago on the ground floor of the museum, the curtains are opened every Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in three restoration and conservation laboratories in the museum, and the visitors are offered the opportunity to watch the works.

The conservation work was carried out by the restorers and conservators Nurver Ferendeci, Betül Özmen and Gonca Dikenci, who are called the “Angels of Troy,” on Atatürk’s suitcase, shoes, slippers, fork, knife and silver box from the early years of the republic, which were transferred from the Anıtkabir Museum to the Çanakkale Museum in 1974.

Museum director Rıdvan Gölcük said that they started to implement the restoration and conservation works by opening the curtains for the visitors to see.

Noting that they want to share their work transparently with the visitors and show how much they trust the quality of the work, Gölcük said, “We wanted to share with visitors that good work is being done in the field of restoration and conservation. Museums cannot change the displays frequently.”

“We saw this application as an opportunity to show the works in our warehouses to the audience and share them with them, and we started this project seven months ago. We moved Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s personal belongings to our three laboratories for conservation. Our visitors will be able to see these personal belongings very closely, and they will be able to send their questions to our friends.”

Located at the entrance of the Troy Ruins, Troy Museum was opened on March 18, 2019.

In the museum, which has a closed area of 12,750 square meters, 2,000 artworks from the Troy Ruins and other ancient cities are on display, while there are 41,000 artworks in the museum collection.