First ‘child museum’ to be established in Ankara

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Protocole for the first chils museum has signed between Mayor Mesut Akgül and Ankara University rector Erkan İbiş. The museum spreads to 3,000 square. AA Photo

Turkey’s first museum dedicated to children is to be established, after a protocol was signed by Ankara University and the capital’s Mamak Municipality.

The museum will include many different artifacts, from items of clothing to toys across the generations. It will display many historical aspects of Turkey from the republican years.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mamak Mayor Mesut Akgül said it was very important to initiate cooperation agreements with universities, adding that he saw universities as both educational institutions and places to raise awareness.

The first museum dedicated to children is to be established in Mamak’s Kartaltepe Kentpark Project and will spread to 3,000 square meters. “The city and its collective memory start with children. Cities should be designed in harmony with their children,” Akgül said.

“With this museum project our children will be able to see the city that we are living in and they will see how we once lived, passing it to the next generations,” he said.

Akgül said that the museum’s works would begin in July and added that it would be a place for children to come to and spend time with their family. A “child theater” will be added to the museum later.

Ankara University rector, professor Erkan İbiş, also attended the ceremony, stressing that his university was a traditional one with its heritage in his speech, adding that it always aimed to open it doors to the public. The agreement with the children’s museum is a key part of this project.

The university gives a high priority to museums and will use its knowhow and values in cooperation with the public in order to apply this knowhow to the public. İbiş noted that local management and museum cooperation was particularly important, adding that they were ready to establish new museums with local managements.

According to İbiş, it is very important that Ankara takes its place in the culture and arts world with its museums, as the Turkish capital deserves to be a city of culture and arts. He said Ankara University would do whatever is needed in the city to achieve this goal.

İbiş said Ankara University was in possession of a really good academic team that could create a successful children’s museum, geology museum or history museum. It is ready to assist in the creation of these, he said.