Atatürk’s House museum to open. The house shows the life of the founder of the Turkish Republic

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.

August/08/2013

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

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Hürriyet Daily News READER COMMENTS:

Jon Goodfellow 8/8/2013 3:15:21 PM Mark-Mark, Kemal's paternal ancestry was from Soke on the Aegean coast of Turkey. He was born in Salonica. His extended ancestry is more unknown, interpreted as partially Yoruk, Mamin, or Macedonian Slav depending on current political proponent. Its fitting for a great man who created an independent Republic of Turkey. "What ancestry?" is irrelevant, as he attempted to create a new "Turkish" identity which is at the core of current political fight today there. A great leader regardless.

constantinos kio 8/8/2013 2:28:35 PM was always museum . also the consulate of turkish goverment in thessaloniki. sinse i was remember my self . but really noone know if this wis real . they say that the right place is a vilahe close to thessaloniki, by the way 5000 turks visited thessaloniki for the ramadan . city opened the yeni jami for the prayers but only 50 came for that .

Can Oz 8/8/2013 1:21:49 PM Mark-Mark - Mustafa Kemal was of Albanian/Macedonian descent. This is not in anyway extraordinary, because millions of modern-day Turks are also of Albanian/Macedonian descent.

Scandi Navian 8/8/2013 12:42:03 PM To be correct - it has been a museum for a long time already. I was there in 2008, at which time it was not in an "appalling state". So the angle of the article seems peculiar...

Mark Mark 8/8/2013 11:28:45 AM Attaturk was born in the east of Turkey, not sure how this could have been his birth place.

mike alexander 8/8/2013 1:28:04 AM Now I can see how civilized the Greeks are since they allowed the restoration of the Ataturk house to open as a museum, and be open to the public in the city of Thessaloniki. Now let us see when Turkey will allow the Theological School of Hallki to open again. Those are actions which indicate the degree of civility of a Nation !