Ankara - Steering Building

Built in 1892 during the construction of the Baghdad Railway, formerly the "Steering Building", is located in the Turkish Republic State Railways Ankara Station Complex. Since Atatürk's arrival in Ankara on 27 December 1919, it has been allocated to his command as the headquarters and residence of the Commander-in-Chief for a long time, and witnessed the most important internal and external decisions taken between 1920-1922. Movement plans of the War of Independence were prepared here, the negotiations and signing ceremony of the agreement with the French on 21 October 1921 were held in this building.

In order to keep the memory of the Great Leader Atatürk alive, TCDD reorganized this building, which has a distinguished place in the history of the Republic of Turkey, and opened it to the public as a museum on December 24, 1964.

Mustafa Kemal leaving the building called Steering in Ankara, Second Headquarters, Station. (1920)

Atatürk's study room, meeting room and bedroom are located on the upper floor of the museum building, which has two floors. It is preserved as it is, with its private belongings and furniture bearing the characteristics of that day. The lower floor of the building is used as the Railways Museum, and the goods and documents related to the railways from 1857 to the present are exhibited. This floor is arranged as five rooms.

Part 1: There are various souvenir medals belonging to the railways, scissors used in the opening ceremonies of some lines and silver service sets used in dining wagons.

Part 2: There are seals, diplomas and identity cards used during the Ottoman Empire, and a model of a steam locomotive in working condition, which was presented to General Manager Behiç Erkin by the German Railways Administration.

Section 3: There is a gold-plated miniature carriage gifted to Sultan Abdulaziz by the British Government, and a mother-of-pearl work desk and wall clocks used on the train.

Section 4: There are models of locomotive, freight and passenger wagons used by TCDD in train operations.

Section 5: There are telephone and telegraph machines used in communication in the Ottoman period, and a caged wagon model put into service by the British in 1905.

Source: www.tcdd.gov.tr