Ataturk Mausoleum and Museum Ankara – Chapter 2
lion Road marble steps leading up to the entrance of the Hall of Honour is a bas-relief depicting all the wars and victories from Vienna to Sakarya, and on the left a bas-relief depicting the Baskumandan Meydan War. On the marble platform in the center of the steps are an inscription recording the basic principle of Turkish democracy, “The nation is sovereign unconditionally and absolutely-. At the front of the Hall of Honour is a colonnaded and vaulted ‘walk. The floor and the walls are made of colored marble, and the ceiling is decorated with mosaics. Torches line the walls on both sides. Exactly opposite is a large ‘window illuminating the Hall, and in front of it, on a raised stone platform is Ataturk’s Sarcophagus, made of a single piece of colored marble, in front of which is Ataturk’s Independence Medallion. Ataturk is buried directly under this sarcophagus. On the right when leaving the Hall of Honour is colonnade between the Republic Tower and the Defense Law Tower, which is used as a Reception Hall. In the courtyard in front of the steps leading up to the Mausoleum are the graves of the Liberation Martyrs and President Cemal Gursel, and between the Tower of Victory and the Peace Tower is the grave of Ismet in one.
On the walls of the ten towers of the Mausoleum, and at the entrance to the Hall of Honour, are carved the momentous words of Ataturk and his speeches to youth, and the symbols of Turkish history and victories.
Ankara Ataturk’s Mausoleum Museum
Ataturk Museum: The Mausoleum Ataturk Museum was established in the vaulted section between the Tower of the National Pact and Reform, in 1960, and is entered through the Tower of the National Pact. In the showcases of the museum are displayed Ataturk’s official and civil possessions, the presents given to him by various organizations and individuals, souvenirs, documents, his medals, swords presented to him, plaques, albums, and photographs etc. These objects, which are of a great material and spiritual significance, are symbols of the love of the world and the Turkish nation for Ataturk.
