Mehmet Akif Ersoy Edebiyat Müze Kütüphanesi

About Mehmet Akif Ersoy Edebiyat Müze Kütüphanesi

The Mehmet Akif Ersoy Literature Museum Library (Mehmet Akif Ersoy Edebiyat Müze Kütüphanesi) is a literature and biography museum in the restored Hamamönü quarter of Altındağ. It is dedicated to Mehmet Âkif Ersoy, the poet who wrote the words of the İstiklâl Marşı, Turkey's national anthem. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism opened it on 12 March 2011, the 90th anniversary of the anthem's adoption. The museum occupies a two-storey building restored to reflect the architecture of old Ankara houses. High courtyard walls surround it, and visitors enter the garden through a small courtyard gate. On the ground floor, a dedicated section covers Ersoy's life and work and displays some of his personal belongings, alongside literary periodicals, award-winning books and copies signed by their authors. The upper floor focuses on books about Ankara and works by writers from the city. The library holds close to 7,000 books, including Ersoy's own works and studies of him, and around 100 periodicals, with further material on Atatürk, the Gallipoli campaign and the War of Independence. It was opened as part of a planned network of literature museum libraries across Turkey's seven regions, and it hosts talks on writers, book signings, poetry readings and writing workshops. It is one of the literature museum libraries listed by the Ministry's General Directorate of Libraries and Publications. A visit pairs easily with a stroll through the restored streets of Hamamönü.