Atatürk’s House museum to open

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

The house has been re-organized according to the modern museum studies approach and the display has also been made accordingly. AA photo

The restoration works of the house in Thessaloniki where modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born, have been finished and the house is set to open to welcome its new visitors.

The opening will be organized by Turkish Tourism and Culture Minister Ömer Çelik on Aug. 16. The house has been re-organized according to the modern museum studies approach and the display has also been made accordingly.

Turkey had begun restorations of Atatürk’s birth house in Thessaloniki following complaints from the Culture Ministry that the dwelling was in an “appalling” state, on July 2012.

Following a series of discussions with the Greek government, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu initiated restoration work under the sponsorship of businessman Serdar Bilgili.

“We organized a project which would cover the years 1880s to the 1940s, describing Atatürk’s life from his early childhood to his final days. How the Balkans and the schools he attended affected his life will be one of the themes. The political, social and geographical significance of both the Balkans and Turkey will be presented chronologically,” the former culture minister said. Multimedia displays would also be created in Turkish, English and Greek, he said. “We organized a project about it. We worked together with the Foreign Ministry and Greece. I also requested a favor from a private enterprise to expedite the process and Serdar Bilgili took on the sponsorship.”

Bilgili will conduct renovations for the “Zübeyde Hanım” house, the dwelling of Atatürk’s mother, in Akaretler, according to Hürriyet. “All formalities are done. I’m going to pay a visit for the restorations,” he said.The architectural restoration and museum scenario is the reason for the museum. There are many works that reveal Atatürk’s life and how he lived. The life of Atatürk has been revealed with epochs and areas.

When reflecting the life, the aim is to use visual features. The information on Atatürk is given on the boards and also through short documentary movies.

The building consists of three floors and each floor signifies a different aspect of Atatürk’s life. On the first floor there is a Thessaloniki Room and Monastery Room. The second floors contain the Ankara Chamber and Istanbul Chamber, which describe the places and cities where Atatürk spent his life. The house was built in 1870 by the Hacı Mehmet Association and first İbrahim Zühdü Efendi and then Thessaloniki local Abdullah Ağa and his wife Ümmü Gülsüm bought the house.