Anıtkabir – The Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Although Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, is not blessed with the stunning landscapes of Cappadocia or the magnificent historical architecture in Istanbul, it does have the title of being home to one of the world’s most impressive mausoleums.
I must confess that prior to my trip to Central Turkey I had little knowledge about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey and the victorious leader of the Turkish War of Independence. Being a foreigner, it’s difficult to fully appreciate the impact that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has on the people of modern Turkey. One quickly realizes that Atatürk is as famous as it gets in Turkey.
The magnitude of Atatürk’s legacy is undeniable when you first approach the lavish memorial and get a sense of its enormity and dominance. It reminded me of Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam and sends a similar message to its visitors.
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Click here – Anıtkabir, Ataturk’s Mausoleum
The mausoleum looks a lot like the Parthenon in Athens, with tall columns at its entrance. As the video illustrates, there were moments when horns blasted over the speakers and all of the visitors stopped to pay tribute to the Father of Turkey.
I’m not sure if this was a daily occurrence or if it was because I had visited the massive memorial in November, a few days before the anniversary of Atatürk’s death.
Frontal view of Anitkabir, which means “memorial tomb”.
How important do you have to be to get one of these?!
A group of students proudly stretch the Turkish flag in front of the Mausoleum
Inside the mausoleum, Ataturk’s sarcophagus is in the centre (above the red wreath)
The sarcophagus of Atatürk, the Father of the Republic of Turkey
Atatürk’s Cadillac on display with his personal boat
Views of the ceremony grounds from the exit of the mausoleum,
standing at the top of the stairs in front of the large columns
There were hundreds of students visiting the mausoleum during school hours,
a testiment to the importance of Atatürk’s legacy
A lone soldier stands guard outside the entrance to the spectacular mausoleum
Turkish Soldiers march with authority through the ceremony ground
Statues of three men located in front of the Freedom Tower,
representing a Turkish intellectual (left), a peasant and a Turkish soldier (right)
Fun fact – In the first 11 months of 2007, Anıtkabir received more than 11 million visitors!
The entrance to Anıtkabir, the remarkable Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Located in prime real estate in the centre of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey
It’s hard to not be impressed by this extravagant memorial. On the 69th anniversary of his death, over 550,000 people visited the mausoleum to pay respect to the Father of Modern Turkey. Think about that for a moment!
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What is the most impressive memorial you’ve ever visited?
Share your stories in the comments section below!
How pretty. It’s very simple, isn’t it, yet striking.
Indeed. I like the simplicity in its grandeur
Wow, I didn’t know he was so important nor that he had such a HUGE tomb.
We have a park with a fountain just one block from us (in Santiago, Chile) with a small monument to him. I never really paid much attention to it, only that the guy was from Turkey.
(I admit I had to google it to make sure it was the same person and not some other Turkish guy).
Rob W.
Yep – He is the Turkish legend. Very few people get that kind of tomb!
Haha, so true.. He’s definitely as famous as you can get in Turkey.. Everyone just loves him. Great shots too!
Thanks!
This bears a bit of resemblence to Ho Chi Minh’s masoleum! So…want to be entomed in style…start a revolution that succeeds…got it! 😛
Yup – just need to win a revolution!
As a New Zealander we know Ataturk – even though he was on the other side of the battlefield he wrote this beautiful speech; YOU, THE MOTHERS, WHO SENT THEIR SONS FROM FARAWAY COUNTRIES WIPE AWAY YOUR TEARS; YOUR SONS ARE NOW LYING IN OUR BOSOM AND ARE IN PEACE.AFTER HAVING LOST THEIR LIVES ON THIS LAND THEY HAVE BECOME OUR SONS AS WELL.
I read Ataturk’s biography and its quite impressive. No wonder he gets the highest honors, the place is really impressive! 🙂
Indeed. He has an impressive resume!
The building looks amazing but I was taken with the tile work on the floor outside, just beautiful.
Yes – the tile work is incredible, as is the interior of the mausoleum.
I’m with everyone else – the work around the main building looks so impressive. Thanks for sharing about this mausoleum. Sounds like a great trip!
Thanks Marly! It was a great trip. Tourists typically skip Ankara but it’s worth a visit 😉
Hah, agreed! What a way to be remembered. I guess our blogs will carry on our legacies…?
Haha… I guess… or we can all band together to lead a revolution?
Great photos! It really does remind me of the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Hanoi, and it appears that Ataturk is just as well respected.
Indeed – there are a lot of similarities between Ho Chi and Ataturk
Wow! So the masoleum is all for him? Not other important people in Turkey as well?
There is another tomb at the other end of the mausoleum for the first president, but it is nothing compared to the main attraction
Great photos! Turkey is definitely on my list to see!
Thanks! Turkey has so much to offer but often gets overlooked. Glad it’s on your list!
Turkey is DEFINITELY on our list.
To bad the Father of Turkey isn’t around to enjoy that gorgeous building.
Glad to here that Turkey is on your list, you won’t be disappointed!
Catchy title for the blog 🙂 Who wouldn’t want to be built a memorial THAT big! Haha. And I thought the mausoleums in cemeteries were already lavish. This is like… a thousand times more lavish than those in cemeteries.
It’s one of our more clever titles, isn’t it?! 🙂
Indeed, it’s as lavish as it gets!
THAT is the main reason why we want to go to Ankara – apart from the Museum of Anatolian Civilisaitons. So beautiful. Yeah, no escaping the importance pf Atatürk. In Fethiye, where we are, there are framed posters of him (different black and white shots) in stands at 20 metre intervals all along the harbour for about 2 miles.
Great photos by the way! 🙂
Julia
Thanks Julia! Hopefully you’ll get a chance to travel to Ankara soon.
If you do, make sure you visit the mosque and citadel too!
Wow, what a mausoleum, so grand! We visited Kemal Ataturk’s residence in Izmir, and it was a million times more modest than this.
Wow! That is amazing. 11 million people, that cannot have been matched anywhere. Great capture of what it is like to be there, you really put me in the moment. The greatest memorial we have been to is Vimi Ridge. The tribute to Canadians in WWI, it is quite impressive although far less travelled
This reminded me of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and the Mao Zedong Memorial in Beijing. Definitely gonna visit this in the future! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, it’s so angular. Reminds me in a strange way of the cube in La Defense, Paris.
Wish I had made it to Ankara after Cappodocia… It sounds like a very interesting city — would have liked to see this Mausoleum.
Beautiful in it’s simplicity. We’ve heading to Turkey later in the year – Was planning on just Istanbul and Goreme, but now Ankara just got added to the itinerary.
Wow – Great Pictures. I have not been to Ankara yet but definitely want to make it soon just to see this place.
It’s pretty amazing!! I think it was in India, at one of the various tombs, that I started thinking about how we just don’t bury people like we used to…I mean, can you imagine someone building something like this for a prominent figure today?? Crazy talk!
Ne mutluyum türkum diyene! I missed my country i want to visit it this summer.:) thanks for the great photos!