Anıtkabir (; ) is a complex located in the Çankaya district of Ankara that contains the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Designed by Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, construction of Anıtkabir began in 1944 and was completed in 1953. In addition to the mausoleum building and various other structures and monuments, it consists of a wooded area known as the Peace Park.
Following Atatürk's death on 10 November 1938, it was announced that his remains would remain at the Ankara Ethnography Museum until a mausoleum could be constructed in Ankara. A commission was established by the government to determine the location where the mausoleum would be built. In accordance with the report prepared by the commission, the Republican People's Party parliamentary group decided at its meeting on 17 January 1939 that the structure would be built on Rasattepe. Following this decision, expropriation proceedings were initiated for the relevant land, while an international design competition was launched on 1 March 1941 to determine the design of the structure. Following the evaluation of the projects after the competition ended on 2 March 1942, it was decided that the project by Emin Onat and Orhan Arda would be implemented with certain modifications, and construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony held on 9 October 1944. Construction, carried out in four sections, was completed in October 1953, later than originally planned because of various problems and delays; changes were also made to the project while construction was still underway. On 10 November 1953, Atatürk's remains were transferred here in a ceremony. Anıtkabir, which has also contained the tomb of İsmet İnönü since 1973, formerly contained the remains of Cemal Gürsel, who was buried there in 1966, and eleven people who were buried there between 1960 and 1963; their remains were removed from Anıtkabir in 1988.
In the Şeref Holü (Hall of Honour), the main section of the mausoleum building, Atatürk's symbolic sarcophagus is located, while Atatürk's remains are buried in the burial chamber on the lower level of the building. The complex is entered from the beginning of the alley known as the Lion Road, which leads to the ceremonial plaza. The mausoleum is located on one side of this area, which is surrounded by colonnades, while the exit from the complex is located on the opposite side of the plaza along the axis of the Lion Road. The complex contains ten towers, two groups of statues, and the Atatürk and War of Independence Museum, with the towers located at the four corners of the Lion Road, at the exit of the ceremonial plaza, and at the corners of the plaza. All of these structures, collectively known as the Monument Block, are surrounded by a wooded area called the Peace Park. The structures in the complex are reinforced concrete, and different types of marble and travertine are used on their surfaces and floors. Decorations created using relief, mosaic, fresco, and carving techniques are found in various parts of the complex. The structure, which is Neoclassical in the style of the Second National Architectural Movement, bears traces of the Hittite, Ancient Greek, Seljuk, and Ottoman cultures that ruled over the territory of present-day Turkey throughout history.
Responsibility for all services and activities at Anıtkabir belongs to the Turkish General Staff, and activities held here are regulated by law. During national holidays in Turkey and on 10 November, the anniversary of Atatürk's death, official commemorative ceremonies are held at Anıtkabir by the government. In addition, ceremonies are organized by persons included in the state protocol and representatives of other natural and legal persons. Anıtkabir is also a place visited from time to time by foreign government officials during official visits to Turkey, where official ceremonies are held.
History Background and determination of the location of the mausoleum
Following Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's death at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul on 10 November 1938, various discussions concerning his burial place began in the press. In a government statement dated 13 November, it was announced that it had been decided that Atatürk's remains would remain at the Ankara Ethnography Museum until a mausoleum was built for him. The funeral was transported to Ankara on 19 November and placed in the museum during a ceremony held on 21 November.
The commission established to determine the location of the mausoleum prepared a report after obtaining the opinions of a delegation of foreign architects. On 24 December, the Council of Ministers decided to refer the report to the Republican People's Party Parliamentary Group for examination. At the parliamentary group meeting on 3 January 1939, a 15-member CHP Anıtkabir Party Group Commission was established to examine the report. After conducting investigations at various locations, the commission decided at its meeting on 17 January that the mausoleum should be built at Rasattepe. Initially, since part of the land on which the mausoleum was to be built was privately owned, expropriation proceedings began in June 1939.
Design phase The commission, composed of members of the Republican People's Party and responsible for expropriating the land on which Anıtkabir would be built, decided on 6 October 1939 to organize an international design competition to determine the design of Anıtkabir. In a communiqué dated 18 February 1941, the commission announced that a design competition would be held, with a deadline of 31 October 1941. The competition began on 1 March 1941 after its specifications were revised because of changes to its provisions. According to the specifications, a jury consisting of at least three people would recommend three projects to the government for first place, and the government would select one of them. Because the members of the competition jury could not be determined by the planned closing date of October 1941, the competition period was extended on 25 October until 2 March 1942. During the competition, Ivar Tengbom, Károly Weichinger, and Paul Bonatz were appointed as jury members; following the end of the competition, Arif Hikmet Holtay, Muammer Çavuşoğlu, and Muhlis Sertel were also appointed.
A total of 49 projects were submitted to the competition: 25 from Turkey, 11 from Germany, 9 from Italy, and one each from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, and Switzerland. After projects disqualified for various reasons were eliminated, 47 projects were submitted to the jury for evaluation on 11 March 1942. The jury completed its work on 21 March and submitted its evaluation report to the Prime Ministry. The report recommended to the government the projects by Johannes Krüger, Arnaldo Foschini, and Emin Onat and Orhan Arda. It stated that none of the three projects was suitable for direct implementation and that they needed to be reconsidered and modified. The report also recommended honorable mentions for projects by Hamit Kemali Söylemezoğlu, Kemal Ahmet Arû and Recai Akçay, Mehmet Ali Handan and Feridun Akozan, Giovanni Muzio, Roland Rohn, and Giuseppe Vaccaro and Gino Franzi. A summary of the report was made public by the Prime Ministry in a communiqué on 23 March.
At a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President İsmet İnönü on 7 May, the project by Onat and Arda was selected as the winner of the competition. The other two projects recommended by the competition jury were awarded second place, while five projects received honorable mentions. Initially, the government decided not to implement any of the projects, including the one it had selected as the winner, but changed this decision with a communiqué published on 9 June, announcing that the Onat and Arda project would be implemented after certain modifications. These modifications were to be made by a committee that would also include the project's designers. On 5 April 1943, the Prime Ministry instructed Onat and Arda to prepare a new project within six months in accordance with the jury's criticisms. The Prime Ministry Anıtkabir Commission, to which the architects submitted their second project, decided on 18 November 1943 that the project would be implemented after the architects made the modifications they deemed appropriate. Responsibility for carrying out the construction was assigned to the Ministry of Public Works on 20 November. The third project, incorporating the changes made by Onat and Arda following this decision, entered the implementation stage with the contract signed between the architects and the Ministry on 4 July 1944.
Construction phase First and second sections
Before the construction of Anıtkabir, Rasattepe was a barren area without trees. In August 1944, before the foundation was laid, water infrastructure work costing 80,000 lira was carried out to facilitate the afforestation of the area. Landscape planning for Anıtkabir and its surroundings began in 1946 under the leadership of Sadri Aran. As part of the landscaping and afforestation carried out according to Aran's plan, afforestation, soil grading, and sapling planting were undertaken, and afforestation and landscaping activities continued regularly even after the opening in 1953.
The tender for the first section of construction, which included soil grading on the construction site and the construction of the retaining walls of the alley, was held by the Ministry of Public Works on 4 September 1944 and won by Nurhayr Company, owned by Hayri Kayadelen. The groundbreaking ceremony for Anıtkabir, held on 9 October 1944, was attended by the prime minister, ministers, and civilian and military bureaucrats. On 12 October, the government prepared a bill requesting authorization to allocate funds for the construction of Anıtkabir. According to the bill submitted to parliament by the Prime Ministry on 1 November, the Ministry of Public Works was authorized to enter into temporary commitments of up to 10,000,000 lira for the period 1945–1949, provided that they did not exceed 2,500,000 lira in any one year. The bill was discussed and approved by the Parliamentary Budget Commission on 18 November, approved by the General Assembly on 22 November, and entered into force after being published in the T.C. Resmî Gazete on 4 December 1944.
While the Building and Construction Works Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works was responsible for the construction supervision and engineering services, it was decided that Orhan Arda would take up his post at the end of May 1945 to supervise construction and remain continuously on site. Ekrem Demirtaş was appointed head of construction supervision, but after Demirtaş left his post on 29 December 1945, he was replaced by Sabiha Gürayman. The first section of construction was completed at the end of 1945. During excavations conducted by the Turkish Historical Society at Rasattepe, a tumulus site, in July 1945, several archaeological finds dating from the Phrygian period were discovered.
A contract was signed on 20 September 1945 between the Ministry and Rar Türk, the company that won the tender held on 18 August 1945 for the second section of construction, which covered the construction of the mausoleum building and the buildings surrounding the ceremonial plaza. The start of the second section was delayed because of the preparation of the soil survey, changes to the foundation system, and the preparation and payment of reinforced concrete and structural calculations; foundation construction began during the 1947 construction season. The stone and marble to be used in the construction of Anıtkabir were brought from various parts of the country. Because the country lacked a sufficient stone industry for the construction, quarries were sought throughout the country, and in addition to opening the identified quarries, various efforts were undertaken to extract the stone.