Guide
Looking from the ceremonial court at Anıtkabir toward the mausoleum block, the museum is entered through the door of the Misak-ı Millî tower on the right. It opened on 21 June 1960 as the Anıtkabir Atatürk Museum.
In 2001, following a project drawn up by the Anıtkabir command, it was decided to add to the museum the columned space of some three thousand square metres beneath the hall of honour where the sarcophagus stands. With that work the museum came to have 5,200 square metres of display space. It was opened with the new sections at a state ceremony on 26 August 2002, and from then on has borne the name Museum of Atatürk and the War of Independence.
The museum has four main parts. The first holds objects Atatürk used, gifts presented to him by foreign statesmen, and belongings of his given to the museum by his adopted daughters Afet İnan, Rukiye Erkin and Sabiha Gökçen.
The second holds the panorama and the oil paintings that recount the Gallipoli campaign, the battle of Sakarya and the Great Offensive. This section sets out to make visitors feel the hardships of the road that led to the founding of the Republic.
The third holds the galleries on the national struggle and the reforms, together with Atatürk's tomb chamber. Here the events of the years 1919 to 1938 are described in Turkish and English.
The fourth holds Atatürk's private library, in which the 3,123 books from his own collection are displayed. Computers in this section carry documents on the building of Anıtkabir, on Atatürk's life, and on the ceremonies held at the monument.
The museum is on Anıt Caddesi, Tandoğan.
