Collections Turkey | Website Republic Museum | |
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Established 1981; 36 years ago (1981) Location Cumhuriyet Caddesi Ankara Turkey Owner Ministry of Culture and Tourism | ||
Republic Museum (a.k.a. "Second parliament Building of Turkey", Turkish: Cumhuriyet Müzesi) is a museum in Ankara, Turkey, which was the Turkish Parliament building between 1924-1960.
Contents
Geography
The museum is in Ulus neighborhood of Ankara on Cumhuriyet Boulevard at 39°56′28″N 32°51′06″E. War of Independence Museum another museum which was the Turkish Parliament building between 1920-1924 is to the northeast of the Republic Museum.
History
Former Turkish Parliament building (now War of Independence Museum) which was used during the Turkish War of Independence, was actually a branch office building of the Ottoman era-Committee of Union and Progress. During the war of Independence the committee was already dissolved and the nationalists used the building as the parliament building. But it was small and inconvenient. Thus after the Republic was proclaimed in 1923 a new and larger building was constructed just to the southwest of the former building. The architect of the new building was Vedat (Tek). The parliament moved to this new building on 18 September 1924.
Up to 1960 all Turkish Parliaments from 2nd to 11th Parliament of Turkey served in this building.
After 1960 the building served as the CENTO (Central Treaty Organization ) headquarters. After CENTO was dissolved in 1979, the building was handed over to Ministry of Culture and the ministry redisigned the building as a museum. The museum was opened on 30 September 1981 on the 100th birth year of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The museum
In the museum the photographs of all former presidents of Turkey and Prime Ministers of Turkey as well as all banknotes and coins issued during the Republican age are displayed. There are also photographs, showboards and mockups about the development of the country after the Republic was proclaimed.