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Ataturk�s Mausoleum & a Museum with Paleolithic Treasures
(by Patti Day-Miller - May 14, 2010)
| After breakfast, we departed for Ankara, the very modern capital of Turkey with a population of three and a half million. Believed to have been the site of a Hittite city, there is evidence of Phrygian settlement here in 1200 BC, when it was known as Ancyra. It was occupied by the Lydians and Persians before being absorbed into the Roman Empire in 24 BC. At one time, wool from the Angora (Ankara) goat was a major export. |
Ataturk Mausoleum |
We drove through rain, and were thankful that we weren’t walking around Istanbul that day or exploring the Open-Air Museum at Goreme. A bus ride in the rain was okay. However, it was still raining when we arrived at the Ataturk Mausoleum, which sits atop a hill featuring many lovely willow trees dressed in their spring green hues. Despite the rain, we still enjoyed standing outside and watching the changing of the guard, before hustling across the courtyard to get inside the main building. I need to tell you a little about the man Ataturk.
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| He is greatly revered throughout Turkey. The word Ataturk means “father of the Turks,” and Mustafa Kemal was given that name in 1923. By 1918 foreign troops occupied Istanbul, Izmir, and other cities in Turkey. Turkish nationalists reacted by setting an assembly in Ankara, but the ensuing war for independence is what gave Turkey the right to determine its own destiny. Kemal, an army officer respected for his heroism during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16, assumed leadership of the army and victory was achieved. With the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) recognizing a Turkish Republic, Ankara became the new capital, and Kemal was elected its first president and was known as Ataturk thereafter. |
| He was a very progressive thinker and instituted radical reforms, borrowing legal and social codes from other European countries. He envisioned a modern, secular Turkish state. Ottoman scripts were replaced by the Latin alphabet. Dress codes changed and surnames were adopted. Schools and courts based on religious laws were abolished, and in 1928, a secular state underwritten by a civil constitution was recognized. By the time Ataturk died in 1938, Turkey had an impressive infrastructure and state-run enterprises that satisfied basic needs. It’s no wonder that he is so revered. |
Ceremonial guards at the Ataturk Mausoleum
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Wreath placed by President Obama
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The mausoleum dedicated to him is entered through huge, bronze doors, which open into a large, marble-lined hall. At the end of that hall is Ataturk’s plain sarcophagus. President Obama had visited here the day before we did, and had placed a large, red and white (the colors of Turkey’s flag) wreath in front of it. There is also a museum here housing photographs, personal possessions, and gifts presented to Ataturk by fellow heads of state over the years. Dave was particularly impressed by a couple of Ataturk’s quotes among the memorabilia: “You can tell the success of a revolution, by the fine art it produces.” And this, “We have to put the prophets and the sultans behind us, and move ahead with civilization.”
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In the afternoon, many of us had signed up for the optional tour of the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, which is considered Turkey’s most outstanding museum. It was named European Museum of the Year in 1997. The museum has the greatest collection of Hittite antiquities in the world. That group flourished during the second millennium BC., and at one point their empire almost rivaled that of ancient Egypt.
Meri gave us a short tour there, and then we were free to explore on our own. Exhibits ranged from simple Paleolithic stone tools to Hellenistic and Roman sculptures. The displays are laid out in chronological order (a huge help for me) and include a statuette of the Mother Goddess from 7000 BC Catalhoyuk (located close to Konya and considered one of, if not THE earliest urban settlement), Bronze-Age treasures from the royal tombs at Alacahoyuk (items from 5500 BC-300 BC), and Hittite sculptures.
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I remember seeing the pieces of an 8th century BC wooden folding table and a little terracotta cooking pot and stand that dates from approximately the 6th millennium BC. In the museum here, I bought a small bell for the friends caring for our dog during our trip. (It was Sandi who pointed out that unique gift to me.) It is a charming reproduction of a bronze Hittite deer. I believe that next to playing tennis right next to the Aegean Sea in Kusadasi, this museum was a highlight of the trip for husband Dave.
After walking down a hill to our bus (rain had stopped by then), we were bussed to our hotel, our second and last 5-star hotel of the trip. After settling in a bit, we went down to the lounge for a drink and good conversation with Bob and Verdie, and later had a delightful dinner with them in a very nice French restaurant in the hotel. It was another one of those, “It just doesn’t get any better than this” days.
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Bronize Hittite Deer
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