Museum ethnographic in Ankara

Ethnographic Museum was constructed on a hill, named as Namazgah, in Ankara. The Fact, which this hill is mentioned as “a rocky place where a martyr fallen in some sources, points out that the hill in question was probably used as a burial place in the Seljuks Period. Some sources give information about the fact that İzzeddin Keykavus built a medrese on the Namazgah hill. It is also known that the people perform the ritual prayers of Islam and rain prayer in an open-air prayer place which was built by a three-lined stones on a limestone rock surface in ancient times. In the Ottoman period, the hill was used as Muslim cemetery. This sacred hill, Namazgah, witnessed a number of important religious and national meetings, and also celebrations in the Turkish War of Independence. Various religious celebrations, rain prayers and soldier sendoff ceremonies were performed at this place in the early years of Turkish Republic. 

After the announcement of Republic regime in Turkey, M. K. Atatürk especially wanted to establish a state museum in Ankara. In the organization period beginning by the announcement of republic regime, a culture directorship under the Ministry of Education was constituted in order to examine and to preserve the national culture sources and public culture; under this organization, a constant culture commission was formed by the leading headworkers of this period. Because of the Great Leader Atatürk’s desire about a national museum, the preparation was started out to establish an Ethnography museum on the verge of keeping alive the national character and the national history of Turkey Republic. In a period which it was given importance to the national culture, the role of Ethnography Museum in this context was well understood, and the Ministry of Education took a decision to found a building of the Ethnographic Museum after the etudes of culture commission in 1924. Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, the minister of Ministry of National Education, who found this decision very applicable, gave the start to the initial works about this matter, and he consulted to the Hungarian Turcologist Gyula Meszaroş, a friend of him from İstanbul Dar’ül Fünun, about founding the new museum in question. This appeal reflected to the report which Meszaroş submitted in 29thNovember 1924. The initial preparations were carried out in İstanbul, and the required duties were specified in the organization report. In the introduction of the report, an extraordinary statement stands out: “An Ethnographic Museum has to be built as a model to the memory and the art of a nation to whom the museum exhibits artworks and it has to be in an appearance which causes national artworks to be liked and to be adopted by the nation”. 

In April 1925, Arif Hikmet Koyunluoğlu, an architect, was invited to Ankara by the ministry of national education, and the state governors informed him that they wish to construct a museum building in order to rescue the artworks which are obliged to decompose in their storage area, Ankara İmaret Mosque, so they requested from him to participate to these works. 

The terms of contract of museum building includes a sentence as follows: “Since the goods and the artworks which will be put into the museum are religious and national artworks, so this building must be in accordance with the artworks, and it must have to the inspirations and affects which are received from the Ancient Turkish Architecture”. Arif Hikmet Koyunluoğlu delivered his project that he created with the inspiration from Ancient Turkish architecture in accordance with the terms of contract in fifteen days. His project was approved and the museum building began to construct in 1925. 

By the order of M. K. Atatürk, the foundation of Ankara Ethnographic Museum as the first sample of State Museums in Turkey laid with a splendid ceremony in 25th September 1925. Inorder to put the first mortar to the foundation of this building, Koyunluoğlu gave in person the trowel to the İsmet İnönü ; and he has also the first foundation stone to him put into the foundation pit. The groundbreaking ceremony of this building which is designed as a museum from top to the foundation came to an end with a nice public speech of Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver, the Minister of National Education. 

Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver said as follows: “I am laying the first foundation stone of the State museum in Ankara where the traces of many painful or pleasant, new or old touching memories exist, and my dream is also to see such scientific, artistic and historical monuments following each other in other parts of our land.”, and thus he heralded the brilliant future of Turkish museum studies. 

Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu had many memories about this construction, and he said that he experienced many things during the construction of this museum building. Once, in a cold, snowy night, as the roof of museum hasn’t complete yet, and some windows have frames and glasses, but some hasn’t and those were closed with boards and woods, while marble craftsmen and carpenters were working into the building, he cut the zinc moulds for the things which the marble craftsmen was working about, M. K. Atatürk came to the construction area of museum in spite of the bad weather conditions. When he saw the hectic situation into the building, he turned to Koyunluoğlu and scolded him: “Hikmet, what are you doing?” Thereupon, Hikmet Koyunluoğlu answered as follows: “Ok, my pacha, our government asked me to deliver this building into one year. We have no other choice. Indeed we are pleased about this situation. Please, let you sit and drink a tea”. Then they asked the workers to come to the head of brasier and they drank tea all together. In the meanwhile, the snow stopped and Pasha opened the door and sat against to the meadow. Then he said: “Hey Kids, if we will make a beautiful park here and afforest this swamp plain, it will be wonderful thing.”

According to another memory of Koyunluoğlu, the construction finished and while the cleaning staffs were working into the museum building, Mr. Cevad Abbas and M. K. Atatürk visited there. In order to kid to Mr. Hikmet, Mr. Abbas turned to Atatürk and told him as follows: “My Pasha, you always mentions about the importance of Modern Turkish Architecture. But, see, Mr. Hikmet adapted the museum building to the old madrasas. Thereupon, Atatürk responded to him: “An architect construct a building in a style which it is requested from him. We want to build this building with an inspiration that is acquired from the Ancient Turkish Architecture and the building must be accordance with the artworks in it. In other words, it is requested form him to build a building in a style of Old Turkish Architecture. He agreed our request and constructed the museum building properly. This museum building is also a structure which takes effect insiders from the outside. Hikmet is admirable, so he must not to be criticized”. After all, Mr. Cevad said that he made a joke to Mr. Hikmet Koyunluoğlu.

In this course, a special commission was set up under the headship of Prof. Celal Esad Arseven and Halil Ethem, The Director of Istanbul Museums, in İstanbul, respectively the first by the 648 numbered order of Ministry of National Education, dated to 2nd July 1924 and the latter by the 3585 numbered order of Ministry of National Education, dated to 21st May 1925. 1250 pieces of artworks which were bought by the commission in question were firstly preserved in a room of Dar’ül Fünun in İstanbul. After the Hungarian Turcologist was employed to establish the Ethnographic museum by a contract dated to 1stFebruary 1924, the collection was transferred to Sülemaniye Küliye by the order dated to 12th August 1926. As the commission carried out its workings, by the order of M. K. Atatürk, Namazgah Hill, a foundation land and a quite important sacred place, was donated to the Ministry of National Education with cabinet decision dated to 15th November 1925 by Vakıflar Genaral Directorship, in order to construct the museum building. 

Arif Hikmet Koyunluoğlu, the architect of Ankara Ethnographic Museum, is one of the most valuable architects in early Republic Period of Turkey. As it seems, while he drew the project of this museum building, he made use of many Anatolian architectural characteristics including from antiquity to present day, since he has a wide acquaintance with the ancient history of Anatolia. The project in question includes a rectangle main building, a courtyard, a vaulted room with one side open to the court and a main entrance with vaulted iwan. The pediment of museum building consists of engraved marble.

The entrance of museum building is formed of a monumental platform, on which it is climbed by 24 steps, and a triple entry system with 3 columns. This feature reflects the characteristics of entrances of Ancient temples in Anatolia. By using the monumental portal in the entrance and the practice of symmetrical façade, the architect wanted to emphasize the frontal feature that was used in both Seljuks and Ottoman architecture. The muqarnase column heads and the pointed arches connecting columns each other are the features of Seljuks architecture; and the vault above the entrance iwan has also a characteristic of Ottoman architecture. The architectural design including four iwans and an open air courtyard which are the important and constant elements of Turkish Architecture, and that was gained to the World Architecture by Turks, was practiced. In the middle of the courtyard, an open air marble pool was built initially. When this courtyard was reserved for the Atatürk’s temporary grave, the pool was carried to the garden, and the roof was closed. A number of small and large rooms are arranged symmetrically around the courtyard. For both façade order and the plan of complex, the museum building is quite symmetrical. The design of façade looking towards the northeast is quite simple. The two storied administrative section is near the main museum building.

The museum building was constructed on an area of 854 m2; it is a rectangular structure which is lying in widthwise direction of its entrance. The structure consists of two parts, namely one stored museum in the front, which is built above the discontinuous basement story, and two stored administrative section in the behind of complex.

The museum building which was laid its foundation in 25thSeptember 1925 was constructed in pursuant of Arif Hikmet Koyunluoğlu’s design by the Ministry of National Education, with the support of ministry of Finance.

The construction of museum building was completed in 1926. Then, the structure was rearranged in the form of Ethnographic museum, in accordance with the report of Prof. J. Meszaroş, the Hungarian Turcologist. The artworks, which were bought for museum by the commission under the headship of Mr. Halil Ethem, the director of Istanbul museums, were brought from İstanbul and they were exhibited in this building.

The basement story of museum building was covered with dark-colored clear-cut stones in the level of basement, and light-colored ones in the level of ground floor. The kind of these light-colored stones is küfeki which is a type of soft yellowish stone. Before the construction of museum building started out, it was found out küfeki stone quarry near Ayaş in the end of researches. In the written sources, Arif Hikmet Koyunluoğlu, the architect of Ethnographic Museum, mentions that the stones in question were taken out from this quarry and they were transferred to the construction area within 10-12 hours. In this period, the walls of ground floor of structures were generally built with rubble stones, and these walls in the upper stories were built with bricks and they were covered by cut stones. During this period, as in the Renaissance period, the rows of rough stones, which are generally formed of the surface covering of basement story, reflects the rustic aspect of basement of this building. In the ground floor of this building, the dark-coloured Ankara Stones (Andesite) were used as a covering material. 

Another material used in this complex is marble. The parts around the windows, the pediment of entrance, stairs, arches, columns and column heads, pavements of vaulted and columned places in museum building were made of marble. In the façade of this structure, marble was used as a covering material from place to place in the upper parts. The lower part, where a library was arranged in the sequel, was covered with marble. The marble used in the building was chosen from the Marmara Island by Mr. Koyunluoğlu. These blocks weighing 10-20 tons were transported by trains; they were taken down from the vehicles with labor force and were carried to the Namazgah hill by oxcarts. The blocks in question were supplied by Mr. Salih Sabri Karagöz, the owner of marble quarries in Marmara Island. The floors of exhibition halls and administrative rooms and the storey stairs were covered with mosaics. 

However, a number of new brick kilns were established in Akköprü and Frenközü near Ankara by Mr. Koyunluoğlu. Although the roof was covered with tiles in the past, the covering of this roof was converted to copper ones afterwards. The outer dome is covered with lead. The doors in the main entrance and the frames of windows were made of wooden materials. 

The general accessories of museum building belong to the Mr. Koyunluoğlu. For example, the relief moulds of bronze ornaments on the dome were engraved by Mr. Koyunluoğlu and these moulds were casted by Mr. Hakkı, a master smelter of this period. The stone masons came from İstanbul. The marble workmanship in the museum is the creation of Master Hüseyin Avni whom Koyunluoğlu worked with for 40 years beginning from his pupilage period in Sanayi-i Nefise. In his memories, Mr. Koyunluoğlu mentions that he worked there as a master mason, a concrete blacksmith, in addition to his architectural duties. 

A symmetrical mass modeling was used in the façade pattern of this museum building. This tradition requires that the façade of building looking towards the main road or a square is animated with architectural and decorative elements. This tradition is also in use for the Ankara Ethnographic Museum. Therefore, the façade of structure was treated differently from the other sides of building. Despite of the compact design in the façade, the other sides i.e. the posterior and the lateral façades of this structure have a considerably simple aspect; these sides were restrictedly animated by means of windows and corner pillars, which its lower and upper parts are in the form of sandglass, formed the corners of building at the beginning, and then left in between by the halls added to the main building in the following period. In fact, the structural and decorative elements of Ottoman architecture were used intensively in the façade of the museum structure. All stylistic features of this period were reflected to this façade of building. The façade was vertically divided into parts. In the middle of it, an entrance is found. On both sides of this entrance, there are two main sections, each for one side; and a protrusive and raised section with one window also appears in each of corners. Every section was arranged as a whole within itself. The halls in the corners of façade and the entrance section in the middle reflect the symmetrical mass design of the period in question by their protrusive and raised forms. This design was animated by means of this façade structure. 

The main entrance, i.e. the symmetrical axis of this building, has a characteristic design for the tradition of portal, as in many structures of this period. Namely, it was especially aimed to emphasize the door of this building. The stairs in the middle of façade, the arches and columns are an expression of this architectural comprehension. The protrusive and raised main entrances, which were intensively used in Ottoman Architecture, became a characteristic for the buildings of this period. So Ankara Ethnographic Museum has an entrance which has shown the same characteristics in question. 

From the façade of this building, it is reached to inside of museum by two staged stairway including 24 stairs in total. The stairway including 12 stairs in second stage is trilateral. In both side of the stairhead, there are three stone sculptures in form of lion. The entrance order consists of four columns with Muqarnas column heads, the pointed arches connecting these columns and three protrusive arches as well. In this entrance, three wooden entrance doors which were placed side by side were decorated with low arches. Above these three entrance doors, a ceramic decoration fills into the pediment which is surrounded in the form of a pointed arch. 

In this period, the main entrances of the buildings were sometimes built as portals like here by inspiring from the ancient Turkish architecture. It also seems that the domes using on the entrances sometimes used to give a powerful impression to the entrance in a stylistic manner. The entrance order including stairway, columns, arches and dome appears in this structure as well. This monumental entrance which has stairs was emphasized by decorative architectural elements, a rectangular pediment, which its edges ended as half pelmet, in the middle, a frieze consisting of prismatic triangles in the end of arches, columns with muqarnas column heads and arches over them. In addition to this monumental entrance in the façade of building, a simple entrance with low arch, which was climbed by double sided stairs — five for each side, is found in lateral façade of the building as well. 

The façade of this building contains eight rectangular windows with grills. The windows were surrounded by marble slabs, in order to gain a rectangular order. There are three windows in each side of main entrance and two each more in two corner protrusions of the façade. Under the three each window in both side of entrance there are rectangles plates, and a pediment in the form of pointed vault is found above each of these windows. In the corner protrusions, there is one each window in the same order. A niche in form of mihrabiye is found in both sides of these sole windows. These windows and niches were surrounded with rectangular marble slabs. A design, which consists of smooth or profiled defacements surrounding the rectangular windows entirely, was frequently in use in this period. In both sides of entrance, two waterspouts are found between the windows. In the lateral façades of main building, each wall, except the ones of appending halls, were animated with four rectangular windows. In a drawing of lateral façade of Metin Sözens’s book, the herbal decorations between the windows don’t exist in the present day. Although these decorations were designed, they may not be engraved, or they were probably removed for an unknown reason. The windows in the lateral façade of main building were arranged as the ones in the façade of museum, but the marble weren’t in use around them. In the posterior façade of this building, two storied administrative section is opened to the outside by one low arched window which was placed in each side of entrance door in the lower storey, and by six longitudinal rectangular windows which were arranged in dual groups in the upper storey. The administrative section in the upper storey is opened to the outside by two longitudinal rectangular windows in each lateral façade of building, and the corridor by another rectangular window that is raised along the stairway. Each of two saloons appending to the main building in later times were lightened by three longitudinal rectangular windows near the roof. The longitudinal strip windows which generally become widespread in the office inns were also used in walls of these appending halls. 

The basement covering under the entire area of museum building was divided into two parts; it was designed as two each rectangle storage areas under a number of halls, nos.2, 3, 8 and 9, in each half of the museum building. Then, since it was requested, the soil in the lower part of front side of building was moved, and new sections for the educational purposes were added there. The area that is the left part of this section in the façade is used as a library. The library is a rectangular hall, where book shelves cover its three walls, in the left side of monumental entrance and it can be reached there by a number of stairs. Briefly, a library, cupboards for artworks, a boiler room, a kitchen and toilets are found in present day in the basement of museum building. It can be reached to each of these sections from the outside. For example, the first door in the left side of building is for the boiler room; the second one for depot of metallic art works and the third one for depot of ceramic and glass artworks.

From the transversal section of complex, it also appears that the order of monumental stairway, its domed entrance, the open aired courtyard, and the middle of two storied administrative section were arranged in a symmetrical axis.

As the museum building was about to be completed, some meetings for the artworks were carrying out. Meanwhile, the society of artist wanted to make use of the unoccupied situation of this building and achieved to get permission to arrange an art exhibition, so the paintings of prestigious artists as İbrahim Çallı etc. were exhibited in the museum building in 1925. 

After the construction was completed, Hamit Zübeyr Koşay, the ex-cultural director, was appointed as the new director to the Ethnographic Museum of Ankara in 1st June 1927, and he remained in his office until 13th March 1931. In the same year, The Ministry of National Education made to sculpture a massive bronze statue of M. K. Atatürk— Atatürk is riding a horse in this description. The statue in question that was made by Pietro Canonica, an Italian sculptor, was opened in 4th November 1927.

Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) visited the museum in 15thApril 1927; after he got the information about the museum, he asked to be brought in service the museum on the occasion of the visit of Amanullah Khan, the Afghan King. The museum threw open in 18th July 1930 and the courtyard of the building remained open, until it was reserved for the temporary grave of Atatürk in November, 1938. Atatürk’s corpse remained there until he was transferred to Anıtkabir in 1953. This part of the building has been already preserved symbolically as a grave in respectful consideration of Atatürk’s remembrance. An inscription is found on a marble above the grave:

“This is a place where Atatürk, who died in 10.11.1938, slept from 12.11.1938 to 10.11.1953.” 

The Ankara Ethnographic museum functioned as Anıtkabir for 15 years. It became a place where presidents, envoys, foreign delegates and the people visited the grave of M. K. Atatürk. During this period, the workings was carried out in the museum; after some required changes in the building, the Ethnographic museum of Ankara reopened its doors to public, owing to the International Museums week, in 6th-14th October 1956. 

The Ethnographic museum of Ankara, that has a remarkable role for culture, arts and education, received various collections from its opening to the present day. In 1932, the collections as fishing, cultivation, embroidery, silver working etc. about the general ethnography were exhibited in the museum. However the collections including vehicles about the fishing, agriculture and transportation, which were bought from Hamburg before, were restituted as training equipments to the Anthroplogy chair of Dil ve Tarih, Coğrafya Faculty, since they occupied much place in the museum building. 

Since the ministry of National Education formerly considered necessary to be constituted the Turkish Revolution History and Painting departments under the roof of museum building, the artworks about these two departments were gathered in the museum, but by the order of ministry of National education dated to 22nd September of 1943, these artworks were delivered to the chair of Turkish Revolution History in Dil ve Tarih, Coğrafya Faculty, and a honor certificate was given to the Ethnographic Museum of Ankara by a decision registered as no.12 by the ministry of National Education. The paintings of Turkish artists collected from the exhibitions were firstly transferred to Gazi Eğitim Institute, and then they were delivered to the Art and Sculpture museum of İstanbul.

According to the common decisions of the ministry of National Education and the ministry of justice, şeriyye registers, which were abolished by the order numbered 4018-2182, dated to 3rdFebruary 1943, were partly transferred to the Archive bureau of Ethnographic Museum, but they were subsequently gathered in the National Library, because of the areal disability.

In 1950s, there was a small atelier for art restoration in the Ethnographic Museum of Ankara. This atelier answered the necessities of both museum and its region. The atelier in question doesn’t exist today. 

In 1948, Ethnographic museum was a place where entire ancient pieces were preserved in Ankara. Especially many goods gathering after abolishing the dervish lodges and the hermitages (1925) also enriched the inventory of this museum. The goods belonging to a number of sects as Bektaşi etc. were put in safekeeping there. The court registers were brought as historical documents to the museum building from the provinces around Ankara. In addition to the precious handworks and laces for the popular culture, beautiful samples of Turkish woodcraft as doors, pulpits and ceilings were gathered in the Ethnographic museum of Ankara. 

Besides the ethnographic artworks, the archeological pieces from Anatolian excavations were exhibited in this museum in the past. In other words, since there was no archeological Museum in Ankara, the archeological artifacts in the Ethnographic museum of Ankara as a state museum were exhibited besides the ethnographic artworks; especially the pieces from the excavations as Alacahöyük, Alişar, Ahlatlıbel etc. were kept under the roof of museum for a while. Then, the archeological findings were transferred to the Anatolian Civilization Museum, a structure which was raised by the restoration of historical covered bazaar building, i.e. ‘Bedesten’, dated to the Ottoman period. 

The manuscript collection in the Ethnographic Museum of Ankara includes tomes, illuminations, miniatures and many beautiful artifacts of Turkish scripture art, which are dated to a period from 11th century to the present day. According to written sources, the Ethnographic museum of Ankara, which possess a great number of artworks exceeding almost twenty thousand items according to inventory of 1973, was one of the most prosperous ethnographic museums in Turkey; the materials exhibiting in the museum were divided into two groups, i.e. the ethnographic artifacts and the ones about Art History, and they were exhibited into ten halls in the museum in 1981. The order of exhibition was arranged as follows until 1981: The halls in the right side of museum building was reserved to the ethnographic items which bring out the actual body of museum, and the ones in the left side to the Turkish-Islamic artworks and the cultic objects in general. From the right side of the museum, the order in question followed in this manner: Hall 1 was the dress section and included public dresses with golden and silver embroideries; Hall 2: the artifacts about Turkish embroidery art as bridal dresses and wedding suits, socks, the head scarves, namely ‘yemeni’, ‘çevre’, ‘peşkir’, wedding bundles, bedcovers, waistbands, pouches, boleros, shoes, slippers, mirrors, silver jewelries, chests, closets and lecterns etc.; Hall 3: carpets, rugs and other artifacts related to the Turkish weaving art; Hall 4: copper handiworks and the artifacts related to the Turkish Kitchen, as cauldrons, churns, basins, trays, metallic waiters, shallow frying-pans, bowls and plates etc.; Hall 5: A guest room from 17th century was exhibited in this hall. And the artifacts related to mysticism, the history of sects and Turkish Islamic Art could also be seen there; Hall 6: the artifacts related to the sects were found in this section; Hall 7: It was also called as Besim Atalay Hall. The ethnographic artifacts in this section were partially comprised of the ones which were gathered by the grant of Besim Atalay in 1963, and the rest of these artworks were gained to the museum by means of his testament after his death. Pots and ceramics from Çanakkale, stick points, mouthpieces, glasses, ceramics and faiences were also exhibited in this hall. However, the artifacts as arrows, bows, pistols, rifles and swords were found in this section; Hall 8: the precious samples of Turkish Scriptural art; Hall 9: It was reserved for the artifacts related to the Ottoman woodworking; 10: The artifacts about the Seljuks woodworking were exhibited in this hall; the most beautiful samples of Anatolian Wood art were found among them. 

The restoration works which was carried out both inside and outside the museum building in 1981 was completed in 1982, and new arrangements for the lighting and the exhibition area were made in this process. This exhibition order has comparatively carried out today. In the domed entrance hall, there is souvenir rayon, a ticket office and seating groups for visitors. In both side of symbolic grave of Atatürk, the photos related with the death of great leader are exhibited today. The artworks in the museum are grouped as the sections, named the dresses and handworks, the hand looms, the metal artifacts, the glass artifacts, the collection of Besim Atalay, the manuscript and wooden artifacts. Many of these items are exhibited into the vitrines in the form of glass case with wooden frame. Briefly, there are artifacts dated from Seljuks to the present day, which were provided from the various sites of Anatolia, in depots and the exhibition of Ethnographic museum of Ankara. 

Today, the Ethnographic Museum of Ankara is a place where the artworks from Seljuks period to the present day are exhibited. 

The exhibition saloons exposing the wedding ceremonies and the bridal dresses from the various provinces of Anatolia, Turkish handling art, the art of carpet and rug weaving, the art of metalworking, the coffee culture and the posthetomy ceremony in a thematic manner are found in right side of the museum entrance. 

fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti http://www.etnografyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/