Milli Mücadelede Atatürk Konutu ve Demiryolları Müzesi

About Milli Mücadelede Atatürk Konutu ve Demiryolları Müzesi

The Atatürk Residence and Railways Museum (Milli Mücadelede Atatürk Konutu ve Demiryolları Müzesi) occupies the old Direksiyon Binası, a two-storey stone building inside the Ankara railway station complex in Ulus. It was built in 1892 during construction of the Baghdad Railway, and from Mustafa Kemal's arrival in Ankara on 27 December 1919 it served as his headquarters and residence during the War of Independence. According to TCDD, plans for the War of Independence were prepared here, the negotiations and signing of the 1921 Ankara Agreement with France took place in the building, and decisions on founding the Grand National Assembly on 23 April 1920 were taken here. TCDD reorganised the building and opened it as a museum on 24 December 1964; it was the first institutional museum with private-museum status under the Ministry of Culture's supervision. The ground floor is a railway museum, with documents, commemorative medals, points and rail samples, silver service sets from dining and sleeping cars, Ottoman-era seals, tickets and identity cards, locomotive plates, and telephone and telegraph equipment. It also displays İbrahim Çallı's large 1920 painting of women pulling ox carts during the War of Independence. Upstairs, the residence keeps Atatürk's reception room, study and bedroom and the room of Fikriye Hanım, with personal belongings and period furniture. TCDD lists it as open on weekdays, 09:00-12:00 and 13:00-17:00, closed at weekends and on religious holidays, with free entry.