The restoration process of the Atatürk Mansion situated in Türkiye's northeastern Trabzon, recognized as the place where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed and wrote his will, continues with works that are aimed to be completed by the 100th anniversary of the republic, according to reports by Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Tuesday.
Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, made his first visit to Trabzon between Sept. 15-17, 1924. During his tour in the Soğuksu neighborhood, he liked the mansion built by Konstantin Kabayanidis in 1890 as a summer residence.
The land register and keys of the mansion, which was registered by the Trabzon Special Administration in 1930, was handed to Atatürk by a committee formed in Trabzon, with a decision dated May 18, 1931, and numbered 361.
During his visit to the city again between June 10-12, 1937, Atatürk stayed in this mansion for two days and prepared his will there.
With the project prepared by Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality, which was presented and approved by the Directorate of Cultural Heritage Preservation Board, some 344 works of ethnographic quality belonging to late 19th and 20th centuries, including furniture, porcelain, carpets and Atatürk's paintings were preserved in the mansion that turned into a museum in 1943.
As the restoration and strengthening works continue in the exterior and interior of the mansion, it is notable to mention that items found inside the historic building were examined with scientific methods in 2013.
Speaking about the current restoration process, which commenced in September last year, the head of the science department of Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality and civil engineer Murat Öztürk, noted that items inside the mansion were repaired in a qualified manner in accordance with the original state of the mansion.
Furthermore, Öztürk, elaborating on the details of the project noted that a technical committee regarding the restoration and restitution work of the Atatürk Mansion was formed in 2020 under the presidency of the metropolitan mayor. "Apart from the professors from our university, this committee with external consultant professors, and our colleagues from the branch looking back to the past, has conducted the necessary works and submitted the reports," Öztürk said.
Subsequently, the project was presented to the Board of Monuments and was approved in 2021, Öztürk explained. Afterward, the tender preparation works proceeded in the same year, and in 2022, the active construction process began, he added.
Reiterating that repair works are conducted in a qualified manner, Öztürk noted that from the general aspect not only the surveying, restitution and restoration works, have been done, but also the slightest retouching procedures on the materials in the mansion, such as curtains.
Öztürk also noted that the mansion has undergone the process of rasping and dismantling, adding that coating production and plastering indoors and then on the exterior parts of the mansion would be done. He also said that exterior cleaning has been completed, and that work on roof production continues.
"While these works continue, we will also complete the perimeter railings, works on perimeter floors and lighting productions," he said.
"Our goal is to open the Atatürk Mansion for service, under the leadership of our president in the 100th year of our republic," Öztürk concluded.
