Atatürk Museum (Thessaloniki)

The Atatürk Museum (Greek: Μουσείο Ατατούρκ, Mousío Atatúrk, Turkish: Atatürk Evi Müzesi, Atatürk House Museum) is a historic house museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece.

The house is the birthplace of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was born here in 1881.^[2] It is a three-floor house with a courtyard on 24 Apostolou Pavlou Street, next to the Turkish Consulate. Before the capture of Thessaloniki by the Greek Army in 1912, it was known as "Koca Kasım Paşa district, Islahhane street".^[1] It was built before 1870 and in 1935 the Thessaloniki City Council gave it to the Turkish State, which decided to convert it into a museum dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The building has three floors and a courtyard. It was repaired in 1981 and was repainted to its original pink. Most of the furniture is authentic. Any missing items were replaced with furniture from Kemal’s mausoleum and from Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. There are photographs on all the walls of Kemal at various periods of his life.

There are four rooms on the ground floor, none of them of much interest to visitors. On the 1st floor is the reception room, with European sofas, a large console table, and a chased brazier; a large sitting-room, with low banquettes around the walls; Kemal’s mother’s room, with a bed, a banquette, and a trunk; and the kitchen, equipped with contemporary cooking utensils. The most impressive room on the 2nd floor is the one in which Kemal was born, a large room with a banquette, his desk, and a large brazier. It faces another room, in which some of Kemal’s personal effects from Ankara are displayed. These include formal dress, smoking requisites, cutlery, cups, and other items. All the documents relating to Kemal’s schooldays have been hung on the walls. A pomegranate tree planted by Kemal’s father still grows in the courtyard.^[3]

In September 1955 a bomb exploded close to the Turkish consulate, it damaged also the Atatürk Museum. This was the beginning of anti-Greek demonstrations and violence in Istanbul, known as the Istanbul Pogrom. Six years later a Turkish court found that the bombing was ordered by the government of Adnan Menderes, Menderes apologized and offered compensation.^[4]

In 1981 a replica of the house was built in Ankara.

References

External links

• www.museumsofmacedonia.gr
• www.studylanguages.org

Museums in Thessaloniki Archaeological Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki Museum of Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Instruments Museum of Plaster Casts Prehistoric Antiquities Museum of Thessaloniki Byzantine and ecclesiastic Crypt of Saint Demetrius Museum of Byzantine Culture White Tower of Thessaloniki Ethnological/historical Atatürk Museum Goulandris Natural History Museum of Thessaloniki Balkan Wars Museum Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki Macedonian Historical Museum Museum for the Macedonian Struggle Natural History Museum War Museum of Thessaloniki Folklore Folk Art and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia and Thrace Art museums/galleries Art Gallery of the Society of Macedonian Studies Cinema Museum of Thessaloniki National Bank of Greece Cultural Center Design Museum of Thessaloniki Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art Municipal Art Gallery (Thessaloniki) Museum of the Macedonian Art Society Museum of Photography Thessaloniki Music Museum of Macedonia State Museum of Contemporary Art Industry/technology Broadcasting Museum of Thessaloniki Railway Museum of Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum "Noesis" Water Supply Museum Education/sports Museum of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Museum of the Cultural Foundation of the Greek Diaspora Museum of the National Center of Maps & Cartographic Heritage Plaster Casts Museum of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Olympic Museum List of museums in Greece

Ottoman monuments of Thessaloniki Mosques Alaca Imaret Mosque Hamza Bey Mosque Yeni (New) Mosque Baths Bey Hamam Pasha Hamam Yahudi Hamam Yeni Hamam Fortifications Heptapyrgion (Yedikule) White Tower Villas/Mansions Atatürk Museum Karipeion Melathron Government House (Konak) Villa Allatini Villa Bianca Villa A.Kapanci Villa Modiano Villa Mordoch Other Bezesteni

Coordinates: 40°38′8.8″N 22°57′16.3″E / 40.635778°N 22.954528°E / 40.635778; 22.954528