Ankara Bağ Evi

About Ankara Bağ Evi

Ankara Bağ Evi, also known as the Gedikoğlu Bağ Evi, is a traditional vineyard house on the Keçiören campus of VEKAM, the Vehbi Koç Ankara Studies Research Centre of Koç University. From the 17th century, Ankara families spent spring and summer in houses among their vineyards and returned to town houses for autumn and winter. VEKAM describes this house as one of the last authentic examples of that custom, which continued strongly until the 1950s. Ali Gedikoğlu, the brother-in-law of Vehbi Koç, had the house built in 1900, and his family used it until the late 1930s. It later passed to Vehbi Koç, and after his death his eldest daughter Semahat Arsel had it rebuilt true to its original form. Restored in 2006, it opened to the public as a museum in 2007 and is registered as a cultural property by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The house follows the central-hall plan of the traditional Turkish house. The ground and mezzanine floors are built of andesite, known locally as Ankara stone, while the upper floor, the main living space, has brick walls set between timber posts. The ground floor held the kitchen and pantry, and the mezzanine, called the winter floor, has low timber ceilings to keep its rooms warm. Specialists from the Sadberk Hanım Museum furnished the rooms to show the move from traditional to modern life, and the house holds the Semahat-Nusret Arsel collection of copper, purses, textiles and embroidery, carpets and kilims, glass, Çanakkale ceramics and calligraphy panels. Individual visitors do not need an appointment. The house opens on weekdays from 10.00 to 12.30 and 13.30 to 17.00 and is closed at weekends and on public and administrative holidays. Security staff record visitor identity details at the garden entrance under campus rules, so bring ID. Group visits and a museum education programme are arranged through VEKAM.