Anitkabir Project Brief by Emin Onat

Mavi Boncuk

Anitkabir Project Brief by Emin Onat

Prof. Emin Onat had expained the creation of the project in this manner: "To show us the real value of the past is no doubt one of the most important revolutions accomplished by Atatürk. The Ottoman era was full of honor, but one must admit that it was composed of a closed world in which the scholastic soul used to dominate. In fact, our history wasn't composed of a closed civilization called once by Ziya Gökalp as "Ümmet (Subject) Era ". As many of the Mediterranean nations, our history began thousand years ago. It started with the Sumers and Hitits, it interfered in the lives of many people from Central Asia to Central Europe, and finally constituted one of the biggest origins of the classical Mediterranean civilization. Atatürk illuminated us when he gave us the rich and profitable pleasure of history. He realized the most important action for saving us from the Middle Age. He showed that our real past wasn't in the Middle Age but in the common resources of the world classics. He told that the real nationalism could never be strengthen by a medieval traditionalism but it could only come to life with only a search into the common and old origins of civilization. Which other idea could explain better that Europeanism; civilization and nationalization are all the same? For this reason, we aimed the monument of the Great Leader of the Turkish Nation on the revolution of salvation from the scholastic and the Middle Age, to explain the new soul he created. This soul mustn't be a mortal one, belonging to some of the civilizations that the nation passed over. The genius of Atatürk shoved us that the Sumer Civilization that was the biggest one of the world was created by the Turks. It was once the base of the Mediterranean civilization and now contains the bases of the world's civilization. For this reason, we wanted to found the Mausoleum of Atatürk who made great efforts on the way of occidentalisation, completely different from the soul of a tomb of a sultan or a veli (Saint), in a classical soul consisting the rational lines of a civilization of seven thousand years old".


If one wants to found some monuments that will resist many years, one must apply to the gift of the nature. Only the stone of the nature grows old with honor. For this reason, it was thought that the monument had to be built by stones.

As the architectural force would appear with the fact that the sight of the monument would be the same from all the sides, the architects paid attention to the creation of the outer space of the building as an expression of the inner space but not as a form of mask.

The Hall of Honor that includes the Sarcophagus of Atatürk had been mounted between the whole mass to make it seen clearly from the outer architecture and to support the monument. All sides of this hall are full of the memories of Atatürk in the museums of the first floor. The monument was placed on a platform that is elevated six meter with stairs from the open space. The ground was projected as a massif wall with closed little windows and the upper side was surrounded with columns of stone that would make great contrasts of light and shadow at sunny climate of Ankara. The greatness and power from the distant appearance that were the aims of the program was achieved. The external walls of the mass that surpassed the columnade and looked like a coffin had been decorated with the reliefs demonstrating the Turkish War of Independence and the Major Turkish Revolution. The east entry of the monument is at the beginning of the Passage Full of Lions. You can reach this entry that is protected with two guardians, by climbing a stair of four meter. That is the east entry of the monument. The surrounding walls had been included under the monument to form a high base from all sides and so Rasattepe became a kind of high fortress, not a little hill.

Two strong axis that cross each other perpendicularly were taken as a base at the establishment of the monument on the hill. First axis passes from the Fortress of Ankara and the other from the Major National Assembly. The first symbolizes the first attack with its character of fortress and takes a valuable existence from the silhouette of the city, when the direction of the second shows Çankaya, the place in which the protectors and continuators of that revolution exist. The place of intersection of this two axis constitutes the architectural center of the Area of Ceremony, and it's also a fascinating one with the excitement of the beginning and continuation. After the Entry of Honor, there's a platform of 180 meter. There's four rank of poplar at the two side of this. That grave entry will call everyone to silence and seriousness. It was aimed to create an atmosphere that would prepare the people for the visit of honor during the walk. There's a frontcourt spread at the end of the Passage Full of Lions. Three sides of this court is covered with a gallery which pillories are made of stone. From the direction of entry of this court of stone, Bakanlýklar, Çankaya and parliament are visible. At the left side of the court, at the direction of fortress, there are wide stairs that reach to the platform of Anýtkabir. This is the way of the Hall of Honor. The period of preparation and wait which causes impatience and ecstasy in the soul of the visitor ends here, before coming the principal monument. On this open stairs, a Hall of Honor encircled with a gallery of big pillars of stone is rising very perpendicularly.