Anıtkabir

About this place

The paving stones on the approach are laid with deliberate gaps between them, so you have no choice but to look down as you walk: the Lions' Road was designed to make every visitor arrive with head bowed before they have seen anything at all. It runs 262 metres between 24 stone lions carved in a Hittite manner, then opens onto a vast ceremonial square with the Hall of Honour standing at its far end, its massive columns sheltering a single-block marble sarcophagus of around 40 tons. This is the place by which all of Ankara is measured: a capital built around one man, and this is the hilltop where he lies. The complex went up between 1944 and 1953 to a design by Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's body was moved here on 10 November 1953. Politics aside, the architecture rewards a slow look: honey-coloured travertine, corner towers with names like Victory, Freedom and Independence, Atatürk's words carved into the hall's inner walls, and a ceiling of gold-toned mosaic. Do not miss the tomb of İsmet İnönü, his comrade and the republic's second president, on the opposite side of the square. What surprises most people is that the heaviest part of the visit is underground. The Atatürk and War of Independence Museum runs through the vaulted galleries beneath the colonnades and into the towers around the square: his clothes and personal effects, his cars displayed in the towers, then enormous panoramic paintings of the War of Independence with sound effects, then long halls on the making of the republic. If you want the photograph and a moment before the sarcophagus, half an hour is plenty; if you want to understand how modern Turkey came to be, allow two hours at least. Entry is free and the site is open every single day. The guard changes on the hour in front of the Hall of Honour, and getting there a quarter of an hour early secures a good spot; children love it, and the whole route is wide and nearly level, so pushchairs are fine. Shade is scarce on the square, though, and August sun on this hill is fierce, so come early. Expect security screening at the gate, large bags left at the entrance, and modest dress and quiet voices everywhere. On 29 October and 10 November hundreds of thousands come, so avoid those dates unless that is precisely why you are here. The nearest metro is Anadolu (Tandoğan), a ten-minute uphill walk to the Tandoğan gate; there is a car park inside the complex.