The Selection of the Final Anitkabir Project

Mavi Boncuk

THE SELECTION OF THE FINAL ANITKABIR PROJECT

The jury did not regard any of the three projects, which are deemed worthy of reward superior to the others. According to the article in the Anýtkabir Project Protocol it is directly at the disposal of the Government of the Republic of Turkey to choose one of the three projects that the jury counted as the best. So the government has the right to choose one of three works that the jury considered as worthy of reward. Considering the opinions of many competent persons on this subject, the government decided to implement the project of Prof. Emin Onat and the Associate Prof. Orhan Arda.

The reasons of this decision were as follows: The three projects that won the competition have the same value from many aspects. However, among these projects the work, which was performed by two Turkish architects expressed this national issue more successfully. As the jury made clear in its report, the convenience of this project with regard to ground feasibility is superior to the others.
The government, bearing in mind the revisions that the jury advised, decided to implement the project of the Turkish artists on 7 May 1942. The notification of the government concerning this decision published on 9 June 1942 shortly includes the following points:
Front sight of the Project 29

1) It is decided that among the three project considered worthy of reward by the jury who examined the project of Anýtkabir for the Eternal Chief Atatürk,;

a. The project of Prof. Emin Onat and Associate Prof. Orhan Arda was ranked first

b. The two projects of German Prof. J. Kruger; and Italian Prof. A. Foschini were ranked second

2) None of these three projects are convenient to be implemented directly , they need revisions. The first ranked project shall be implemented after making the revisions recommended in the jury report.

3) It is decided that a council of experts in which the owner of the first ranked project will participate shall make the recommended revisions.

After the acceptance of the project of the Turkish architects, a new commission was founded on 28 October 1943 to perform the revisions mentioned in the jury report. Professor Paul Bonatz who used to work at the Ministry of National Education, Sýrrý Sayarý; Chief of Structure and Construction Department of the Ministry of Public Works and Prof. Sedat Eldem, Chief of the Department of Architecture at the Fine Arts Academy constituted the commission. The amendments at the project were decided with the cooperation of the artists. The rooms around the axis of the castle and the Hall of Honor were criticized as they spoiled the monumental character of the building. The planned amendments at the project consisted the improvement of these sections.

Prof. Emin Onat and Associate Prof. Orhan Arda finished their work that they started on 5 April 1943 and they delivered it to the commission on 7 October 1943. According to the contract, the implementation and control rights of the winning project belonged to the owner of the work.

Therefore, the commission made a decision containing the ideas about the principal project of the monument and the plan of park of the monument field and also the relation of this entirety with the plan of public works of the city of Ankara. And finally, it gave those rights to Emin Onat and Orhan Arda on 18 November 1943. The reports, projects and models prepared by the Commission were examined at the meeting of the Council of Ministers and it was decided to implement the project on 18 November 1943.