Ataturk Museum

Ataturk Museum is housed in the building where Kemal Ataturk, the “father of Turks”, was born and is located behind the Turkish Consulate. In 1935 the house was given by the municipal council of Thessaloniki to the Turkish state and became a museum. In 1981 the building was painted back to its original pink colour.

The building of Ataturk Museum has three floors and a courtyard. Most of the furniture is authentic. Any missing items were replaced with furniture from Kemal’s mausoleum and from Top Kapi in Istanbul. There are photographs on all the walls of Kemal at various periods of his life.

There are four rooms on the ground floor, none of them of much interest to visitors. On the 1st floor of Ataturk Museum is the reception room, with European sofas, a large console table, and a chased brazier; a large sitting-room, with low banquettes around the walls; Kemal’s mother’s room, with a bed, a banquette, and a trunk; and the kitchen, equipped with contemporary cooking utensils. The most impressive room on the 2nd floor is the one in which Kemal was born, a large room with a banquette, his desk, and a large brazier. It faces another room, in which some of Kemal’s personal effects from Ankara are displayed. These include formal dress, smoking requisites, cutlery, cups, and other items. All the documents relating to Kemal’s schooldays have been hung on the walls. A pomegranate tree planted by Kemal’s father still grows in the courtyard.