Atatürk’s Mausoleum – Part One

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Sunday 16 February, 2014 by Uncle Spike

On a hill overlooking much of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, is a place called ‘Anıtkabir’. The literal translation is “memorial tomb”, and is the site of Atatürk’s mausoleum – the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

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On our recent trip to Ankara, Clan Spike visited Anıtkabir on a cold and clear winter’s morning. Bizarrely, it was my first visit there; which as a naturalised Türk was something I had wanted to do for a long while. Our many previous attempts were blighted by work and family commitments, heavy snow, and our time in Ankara naturally occurring and therefore clashing with public holidays. On such occasions, the site would have been massively crowded, and no place to drag a baby/young child around. Nevertheless, I have now been… and I must say, was mightily impressed.

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Now that bit older, Cousin Spike Jnr was in total awe as we walked around, especially in the large underground museum. Of course, for him it like all his school history lessons brought to life on one morning.

I am no historian I have to say, so for those interested in learning more about Anıtkabir, the site of the mausoleum, or about Atatürk himself, you can read at your leisure from the links contained in this post.

I have included a variety of photographs that I took. Hopefully they will give you an insight as to the scale and majesty of this vast complex.

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I have travelled to many parts of the globe, and was proud to acknowledge that ‘we did well’ with this one. It was well worth the visit and can see why it remains a major tourist attraction, as well as a site visited by millions of Türks every year.

I was pleased to read so many favourable reviews on Trip Advisor too

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Unlike many national attractions around the world, I was pleasantly surprised to find there was NO ENTRANCE FEE, and more bizarrely, that both the small cafeteria and well stocked gift shop were very reasonably priced. There was certainly no attempts to ‘rip off’ the tourists, which I’m afraid does happen elsewhere in our country. Thankfully, the sharing of national pride did not come at a price – and nor should it I believe.

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I hope you enjoyed this brief look at what is a key site of memorial within the modern day Republic of Turkey. It is also the hotbed of our ongoing political struggles and turmoil, but I leave explaining that minefield to the political news bloggers out there… 

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There is also a second part to this story, entitled Atatürk’s Mausoleum – Part Two (I know, not very original), in which I continue my look at ‘Anıtkabir’ in Ankara, the site of Atatürk’s mausoleum.

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