Yapı Kredi Museum is presenting Pursuit of an Ideal: Atatürk and Alaca Höyük exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the Republic.
The museum will exhibit a significant part of the archaeological artifacts unearthed during the Alaca Höyük excavations. The exhibition, prepared in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Yapı Kredi Culture and Arts Publishing and spread over three gallery floors, can be visited free of charge between 13 October and 10 March 2024.
A significant part of the archaeological artifacts unearthed during the Alaca Höyük excavations that started in 1935 and are preserved in different museums in Turkey are exhibited together for the first time.
Within the scope of the exhibition, 235 archaeological and ethnographic original works from the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, Alaca Höyük Museum, Çorum Museum and Istanbul Archeology Museums are brought to Istanbul Yapı Kredi Museum and presented under chronological and thematic sections. Photographs selected from the Turkish Historical Society Archive and some of the original drawings made by Mahmut Akok are also included in the exhibition.
Curated by Nihat Tekdemir and scientific advisor by Tayfun Yıldırım, the exhibition Pursuit of an Ideal: Atatürk and Alaca Höyük was coordinated by Bülent Gönültaş, Mehtap Ateş and Nilüfer Babacan. The design of the exhibition was made by Karşılamalar.
The public opening date of the exhibition, which can be seen at Yapı Kredi Museum in Istanbul between 13 October 2023 and 10 March 2024, was determined as 13 October, when Ankara was declared the capital of the Republic of Turkey.
In Pursuit of an Ideal: Atatürk and Alaca Höyük exhibition offers visitors an archaeological feast. Alaca Höyük excavations, which were started in 1935 by the first archaeologist of the Republic of Turkey, Remzi Oğuz Arık, and ethnologist Hâmit Zübeyr Koşay, have the title of the first major and modern excavation of the national archaeology campaign initiated under the leadership of Atatürk. The exhibition also includes artifacts unearthed from the Alaca Höyük excavations, as well as the Ahlatlıbel, Etiyokuşu, Karaoğlan and Trakya Vize Tumulus excavations, which are considered the first excavations of the Republic of Turkey.
Inspired by Atatürk’s Turkish Grand National Assembly speech
In Pursuit of an Ideal: Atatürk and Alaca Höyük exhibition also discusses the archaeology and cultural mobilization initiated under the leadership of Atatürk in the first years of the Republic. The exhibition takes its inspiration from Atatürk’s speech. In his opening speech at the Turkish Grand National Assembly on November 1, 1936, Atatürk included parts of his speech in which he drew attention to the success achieved by Turkish archaeologists in Alaca Höyük. The exhibition begins with this speech made by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the Turkish Grand National Assembly:
“The 5,500-year-old artifacts of Turkish history unearthed by the Turkish Historical Society as a result of the excavations carried out in Alaca Höyük require a re-examination and deepening of the world’s cultural history.” (November 1, 1936, Ataturk)
The exhibition also presents Roman Period archaeological artifacts unearthed from the Kırklareli Vize tumulus by Arif Müfid Mansel, who carried out the first methodical classical excavations of the Republic of Turkey between 1936 and 1939.
Atatürk wanted to see the works unearthed during Mansel’s excavations in the Vize tumulus while he was in his sick bed, and these were brought to Dolmabahçe Palace in the autumn of 1938. It is reported that Atatürk examined these works carefully, put the golden ring depicting a stork and a fox on his finger, and turned to Arif Müfid Mansel and said, “Continue the excavations; you will find more of the cultural riches of our country.” The exhibition also draws attention by highlighting the visions and competencies of Atatürk and his accompanying Republican staff in a specific field, such as archaeology.
