Ankara Palas

Ankara Palas stands in Ulus, directly opposite the Second Parliament building. Its foundation was laid in 1924 to a design by Vedat Tek; when he left the job, the building was completed to a new design by Kemalettin Bey. It ran as a hotel until 1975, served as offices and exhibition space for a ministry, was restored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reopened as a state guesthouse on 29 October 1983.

In 2018 it was transferred to the National Palaces Administration, and on 21 February 2024 it opened as a museum: five halls, about 1,000 square metres of indoor space and close to 1,200 objects. The collection includes furniture and personal belongings of Atatürk, diplomatic gifts, and palace pieces such as Hereke fabrics, Beykoz glass and Yıldız porcelain.

Most of what makes Ankara Palas matter happened because of where it stands. It was built opposite the parliament of the time, and the National Palaces' own history of the building describes it as the meeting place of deputies, journalists and artists in the 1930s, and the house where foreign delegations were received.

That story needs the parliament building in view, and inside you will not have it. The forecourt in front of the two buildings is the one place where the group can see both at once, so the framing belongs there. Inside, the halls can then carry the objects rather than the context.

Ankara Palas is on the list of visitable National Palaces sites in the Administration's visiting rules, so the same rules that apply at Topkapı and Dolmabahçe apply here. Once a group with a licensed guide is larger than eight people, a headset system is mandatory, and guides may not narrate loudly indoors without one. Visitors who do not follow the rules can be asked to leave by the staff.

This is easy to miss because every other site on that list is in Istanbul or Kocaeli. The rules do not name a type of system. If you plan to use anything other than the familiar rented sets, a phone-based system like ours included, confirm with the museum that it is accepted before the day. The article texts and every site the rule covers are on our Topkapı headset rule page.

Several of the objects on show were made at factories that the National Palaces still run. The palace fabrics came from the looms at Hereke, and the porcelain from the Yıldız Porcelain Factory in Istanbul. For a group that will see either place later on the same trip, Ankara Palas is a good point to plant the name.