İzmir - Atatürk House and Museum

İzmir Ataturk museum; It is a building on Atatürk Street, in Gündoğdu Square, with its façade facing the sea. Built as a house by the carpet merchant Takfor between 1875 and 1880, this mansion was abandoned by its owner on September 09, 1922 and became the property of the treasury.

Right after the Great Victory, while the Turkish armies were gliding towards the Aegean with lightning speed, Commander-in-Chief Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha was advancing towards İzmir, stopping by the burned and destroyed cities of the Aegean with them. Atatürk arrived in İzmir on September 10, 1922, one day after the Turkish armies entered İzmir, was greeted with enthusiastic ceremonies, and 2 days later, he was a guest at the Muammer (Uşşaklıgil) mansion in Göztepe. Atatürk, who stayed in this mansion for 19 days until the evening of September 29, 1922, stayed in this mansion on January 27, 1923, his second visit to Izmir.

Atatürk also stayed in Göztepe Mansion during his trips to İzmir on 27 July and 1 January 1924. After he got divorced from Latife Hanım, when he came to İzmir, the people of İzmir started to host him in the Naim Palas on the seaside in Gündoğdu district. This house was built between 1860 - 1862 and was used as a hotel for a while. In 1927, the Izmir Municipality bought the house from the treasury and gave it to Atatürk as a gift. After October 11, 1925, Atatürk stayed in this house 7 times in İzmir, and made many historical decisions in this house.

When Atatürk finally came to İzmir on June 22, 1934, he stayed in this house again. Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, was with him. They spent two nights together in this house and left Izmir on 24 June 1934 to go to Balikesir. After that day, he never came to Izmir again.

After Atatürk's death, the İzmir Municipality preserved the Atatürk House as it was, along with its belongings. The house was a two-story structure. Its front surface is decorated with marble moldings and pediments. After entering through its arched door, it is passed to a hall that extends deeply. The rooms are lined up on the sides. The upper floor is reached by a double-sided marble staircase. On the upper floor, there is a large living room, a balcony overlooking the sea, and the balcony room has two large rooms on either side. The room in the south is Atatürk's bedroom. Reza Shah Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, remained in the second room in the north.

In 1941, the Izmir Municipality arranged the upper floor of the Atatürk House (Atatürk Museum) and exhibited the bedrooms of Atatürk and Rıza Shah Pahlavi, together with their belongings, as they were used. In 1952, it was put into service as the hall and rooms (Atatürk General Library) on the lower floor. In those days, the boat that Atatürk rode in İzmir was exhibited under the stairs at the entrance, while the upper floor Atatürk Museum was decorated with Atatürk's photographs, console and mirrors, sculptures, paintings and carpets. In 1967, when the Atatürk Library was moved to its new building, the Atatürk House was transferred to the Ministry of Culture to be reorganized as the Atatürk Museum.

The Ministry of Culture repaired and rearranged the building and opened it to visitors with a ceremony on October 29, 1978. Ethnographic works are exhibited on the lower floor of the building, and Atatürk's belongings are exhibited on the upper floor.

In the lower floor showcases, there are traditional women's clothing, Turkish bath sets, handicrafts, handkerchiefs and pouches, and various furniture. In the carpet-rug section, there are distinguished examples of carpet centers such as Bergama, Kula, Gördes, Milas, Çanakkale, rugs and cicims, mother-of-pearl inlaid armchairs and coffee tables and other ethnographic items.

On the upper floor where the Atatürk Museum is located, paintings, large mirrors, cloakrooms, furniture and a bronze casting clock decorate the hall. The rooms on the left opening to the living room are arranged as Atatürk's bathroom, bedroom, study room, library and dining room. Atatürk's bedroom is displayed with a blue bedding set, a velvet sofa and two armchairs.

The building is a Neoclassical structure consisting of a mixture of Ottoman and Levantine architecture. It consists of basement, ground floor, 1st floor and attic. It is a masonry building with a rectangular plan, a porch at the back, a courtyard and covering an area of ​​852 m². There is a bay window on the 1st floor in the front. The entire ground floor floor is paved with large marble slabs. In the hall, there is a 34.5 m² Isparta carpet, marble statues in the right and left niches, a large crystal mirror and a bust of Atatürk. In the room on the right and left and in the small living room, there are exquisite fireplaces in the 19th century style. At the beginning of the stairs leading to the first floor, there are 2 bronze knight statuettes that serve as sconces. A large Atatürk portrait hangs on the stair landing.

On the 1st floor are the rooms used by Atatürk. These are: meeting room, study room, bedroom, guest room, barber room, guard room, waiting-reception room, library, dining room and bathroom. In the meeting hall, there is a green broadcloth roulette table in the middle and 12 Cosmos chairs around it. Some scenes from Shakaspeare's works are animated on the tile plates on the backs of 10 small mahogany chairs based on the living room walls. The bedroom, which is furnished according to the fashion of the day, has 1 mahogany bed, 2 comedy beds, 2 velvet armchairs, 1 sofa, 1 chaise longue, 1 marquise, 3 wardrobes. There is a French encyclopedia in the library. In the study, there is an oak veneered study table and a writing set used by Atatürk on it. The rooms are decorated with bronze sculptures, vases and oil paintings. 

İzmir - Atatürk House and Museum Visitor Directive:

Open days: Every day except Monday, between 08.30-12.30 / 13.30-17.30. On summer days, the museum is open until 19.00.

Address: Ataturk Cad. No: 24 Alsancak/İzmir

Tel : (0232) 464 80 85

Source: 1- A A M, Atatürk Evleri Atatürk Müzeleri, Mehmet Önder, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi 1993. ISBN: 975-16-0077-4. Sayfa: 27-28

               2- Ahmet Gürel, İTK Uşakizade Köşkü Md.

Atatürk Evi ve Müzesi Görselleri